Portal:Viruses/Selected biography/7



Many well-known people have survived the paralytic disease polio. The earliest identified case might be Siptah (pictured), Egyptian pharaoh 1197–1191 BC, whose mummified remains have a deformed leg possibly from polio. Claudius, Roman emperor 41–54 AD, walked with a limp after a childhood disease that historians have hypothesised might have been polio. Novelist Sir Walter Scott suffered paralysis in one leg after a teething fever in 1773, which left him lame; his detailed account of his disease has allowed a retrospective diagnosis of polio to be made with confidence.

For many of those who survived it, paralytic polio was a life-changing experience. The disease can lead to permanent physical disability; Itzhak Perlman, for example, plays the violin seated. Others recover completely, with some going on to excel in sports; Ray Ewry became world's foremost standing jumper after childhood polio. Some survivors, including singer Ian Dury and actress Mia Farrow, have campaigned for polio eradication or for disability rights.