I was very fortunate to spend the past week at the CDC Disease Detective Camp with kids from all over the country to learn about all the aspects of the CDC and public health. While talking about vaccinations, global eradication of small pox, and the effort towards global eradication of polio, I heard a sad story.
There was a girl back in the 50’s that caught polio when she was three and was paralyzed in her torso, which meant she needed an iron lung to move her diaphragm and breathe. When she was older, they tried to fit her for the portable, smaller version, but they learned she had scoliosis. Because she had scoliosis, her body was contorted and she could not fit the symmetrical mold for the portable, smaller version of the machine, so she spent her entire life in an iron lung.
Even though it was a sad story, I thought it was a good example of why scoliosis research and treatment is very, very important!

Here is a picture of an iron lung: