Martha Lillard, last US polio patient using iron lung, dies at 78 in Oklahoma

Re:Martha Lillard, last US polio patient using iron lung, di... by summa_tech on Sunday July 12, 2026 @01:33AM (#48878583)

Well, it's complicated. As I understand, one of the polio vaccines - the oral one - has an unusual quirk.

The live virus used in it can reproduce and spread in low-vaccination communities. While the vaccine version of it will not cause paralysis, it can and occasionally does mutate back into a pathogenic variant.

So we're sort of maintaining a reservoir of polio, really.

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Re:Martha Lillard, last US polio patient using iron lung, di... by bawolff on Sunday July 12, 2026 @03:48AM (#48879212)

Hopefully though we will slowly wean off the live vaccine. For the most part the live vaccine is only used in developing countries. There are a bunch of factors that make that difficult but i think eventually we will get there.

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Re:Martha Lillard, last US polio patient using iron lung, di... by cubefox on Sunday July 12, 2026 @01:49AM (#48878669)

Source?

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Re:Martha Lillard, last US polio patient using iron lung, di... by ksenzee on Sunday July 12, 2026 @02:05AM (#48878748)

Not OP, but this is fairly common knowledge. Here's a reliable source - search the page for VAPP: https://www.chop.edu/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-detail...

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Re:Martha Lillard, last US polio patient using iron lung, di... by cubefox on Sunday July 12, 2026 @04:03AM (#48879288)

Thanks.

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