Introduction
These images - from the great polio epidemics of the 1940s and 1950s - serve as a poignant reminder of an era before childhood vaccination had become routine, and when the word "polio" was capable of striking fear into the hearts of children and adults alike.
In recent years, however, it has become apparent that many of these same polio survivors have begun to experience a puzzling new set of problems - a medical enigma that has challenged the diagnostic skills of the physicians who have confronted it, and which is just now beginning to be elucidated by researchers in neuromuscular disease.
This new entity is named post-polio syndrome or PPS, and investigators are currently striving to understand its origins, to assist physicians in diagnosing it, and to devise effective measures for treatment.
