The dream of polio eradication might need a rethink - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35519473 - April 2023 (50 comments)
Iron lung: 'negative pressure' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_lung Ventilator: 'positive pressure' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventilator
Humans breathe using 'negative pressure', expanding muscles within the rib cage (principally on the back) and draw in air. Until computers and quality sensors could be given control over the breathing process, positive pressure breathing was too dangerous to even consider. While Iron Lungs were a nightmare of complexity and patient care was difficult with all or part of the body in a pressure chamber with seals around the neck... Iron Lungs were a safer alternative, especially if there is fluid in the lungs that needs to be coughed out.
I am not 100% convinced that the switch to using positive pressure exclusively was a good move, with vent damage being prevalent especially on comatose patients... and patients who would not even be in a coma but for the fact they were put on a vent.
We have to keep telling these family stories to our kids otherwise we forget why vaccination has changed our world
Polio is a horrible, horrible disease, and entirely preventable by a simple vaccine, and anti-vaxxers opposing vaccines are some of the most ignorant people on earth.
Polio is also special in that you can't just do muscle training. The remaining nerves are overworked, so if you exercise too much (and that isn't very much) more nerves start dying on you. It's a difficult balance, and these days there are very few doctors around who actually understand polio and can advice correctly on what to do for the few new cases worldwide today, and the same for those (like my father) who get post-polio effects later in life.
Bad forecasts: it seems to me that the 24-36 hour weather forecasts have been shifting more dramatically than I remember in the past.
