Rotary Club of Lake Murray-Irmo gathered at Loveland Coffee on October 24, 2025 for World Polio Day. Beach Loveland and his staff welcomed us and we were able to discuss END POLIO NOW with many customers. We were joined by past Rotary 7770 District Governor Mary Gasque and the District END POLIO NOW spokesman and Chief Fund Raiser, Bernie Riedel. Polio is on the brink of being eradicated worldwide with only two countries still having polio cases each year.
Many do not know the history or impact of Polio. In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, virtually every person knew someone in their family or circle of friends who had polio. In the early 1950s, there were over 55,000 cases of polio annually in the United States. Worldwide there were about 500,000 cases of polio. Of that number 50,000 children a year would die from polio and thousands more would be crippled, paralyzed or suffer lifelong disabilities.
What is Polio and how is it transmitted?
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. Poliovirus only infects humans. It is very contagious and spreads through person-to-person contact. The virus lives in an infected person’s throat and intestines. It enters the body through the mouth and spreads through contact with the feces of an infected person (and the local contaminated environment) and, though less common, through droplets from a sneeze or cough. Also, you can get infected if you put in your mouth objects like toys that are contaminated. An infected person may spread the virus to others immediately before and about 1 to 2 weeks after symptoms appear. The virus can live in an infected person’s feces for many weeks. It can contaminate food and water in unsanitary conditions.
The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis. Between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who have paralysis from poliovirus infection die because the virus affects the muscles that help them breathe. Even children who seem to fully recover can develop new muscle pain, weakness, or paralysis as adults, 15 to 40 years later. This is called post-polio syndrome.
Rotary International started its worldwide polio eradication program PolioPlus in 1985 in the Philippines.
After this successful program and as a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we have together reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. In 1988 Rotary became a partner in the GPEI, along with WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation later became a key fund raising partner.
We’ve helped immunize more than 3 billion children in 122 countries. So far, Rotary has contributed more than $2.9 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort. Rotary has committed to raising funds continuously, which will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yielding millions for polio eradication activities, including immunization and surveillance. Rotary volunteers work continuously throughout the world to ensure vaccines are available and given to children and others at risk. Our Rotary volunteers are often at great personal risk and many volunteers have been injured and lost their lives in service to END POLIO NOW.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
The Rotary Club of Lake Murray-Irmo (RCLMI) is one of 45,000 Clubs around the world with over1.2 million members. Our District 7770 has 78 Clubs from Chapin to Lexingotn, Columbia, Orangeburg, HHI, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach. RCLMI meets each Wednesday for breakfast at the Seven Oaks Recreation Center from 730-830am. Join us for breakfast and learn more about Rotary in our community, nation and world. Website: lakemurraryirmorotary.com
