Polio (Infantile Paralysis)

The virus goes to the core. It travels through the body, seeks out the motor nerve cells in the spinal cord — precisely those cells that open the path from your will into your muscles — and shuts them down. A child who was running and jumping in the morning may not be able to stand by evening. A leg that no longer responds. An arm that hangs limp at the trunk. In the most severe cases, a breath that no longer comes on its own.

Medically, poliomyelitis is a viral disease of the spinal cord. Today it has become rare in most parts of the world — displaced by vaccination programmes, almost forgotten by a generation that never had to experience it. But for those who are affected or have been affected, it remains one of the most formative physical experiences imaginable: a body that no longer follows its inner command.