Comparing the Polio and Coronavirus Epidemics
In the early 1950s the most feared epidemic disease was polio, which every year paralyzed thousands of children and adults. In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, it is useful to look back and compare the two epidemics.
Both epidemics are caused by viruses, but from different families. The novel coronavirus that caused the current pandemic—SARS-CoV-2—is a respiratory virus while poliovirus is an intestinal virus. The coronavirus damages the lungs. Poliovirus begins as an intestinal virus that in a small percentage of cases migrates into the spinal cord where it destroys motor nerves, causing paralysis. Scientists still don’t know why this migration occasionally occurs.