Author/Editor		Schincariol, Michele; Savić, Jasna; Zupanič Slavec, Zvonka
Title		Ali je otroška paraliza pozabljena bolezen?
Translated title		Is poliomyelitis a forgotten disease?
Type		članek
Vol. and No.		Letnik 85, št. 2
Publication year		2016
Volume		str. 99-108
ISSN		1581-0224 - Zdravniški vestnik
Language		slv
Abstract		Lately, a changed relation to vaccination and the big migrating currents all over the world are warning us about the importance of maintaining a high vaccination rate in our society. The recent outbursts of some apparently suppressed infectious diseases, such as measels and the vaccine-associated poliomyelitis in Ukraine this year, are pointing out the renewed threats of such diseases. Based on the historical example of the poliomyelitis epidemic among Slovenes in the fifth decade of the previous century, where around 400 people were affected and one tenth of them died, and on the consequences of poliomyelitis and its longlasting rehabilitation, we showed how infectious diseases can harm a society that rejects vaccines. For this purpose, we took in consideration the consequences of poliomyelitis in the survived population. An example of a local rehabilitation facility is the hospital of Stara Gora, where 200 children, who suffered from poliomyelitis, recieved rehabilitation management in the years 1952-1962. The credible data of the poliomyelitis epidemics among Slovenes point out the severity of this disease. The high number of 400 affected people, one tenth of which died, indicate that vaccinating and maintaining a high vaccination rate are reliable ways of preventing poliomyelitis and other infectious diseases. The data of the rehabilitation center in Stara Gora discussed in this article prove that precisely poliomyelitis, compared to hip displacement and similar diseases, entails most long-lasting consequences of the disease and requires a very complex conservative or operative treatment. Such considerations lead us to the conclusion that the position of many vaccination opponents should be considered wrong and harmful for any society that managed to control the spreading of such infectious diseases as poliomyelitis in the past. Finally, the importance of vac- cines for preventing infectious diseases has also been stressed by some important Slovenian scientist and doctors, who treated poliomyelitis and some of them even themselves suffered from the disease.
Keywords		poliomyelitis history of medicine rehabilitation otroška paraliza zgodovina medicine rehabilitacija