SNAPSHOTS
1955 Life savers
Thanks to the arrival of mass vaccination programmes in the 1950s, polio –a terrifying disease that targets children and causes paralysis – has been almost completely eradicated worldwide. One historic method for treating polio was the ‘iron lung’, a type of ventilator that encased the body and, by changing the pressure inside, simulated breathing for those whose chest muscles were paralysed. However, patients could be stuck in the large metal boxes for weeks, even months, at a time. These two friends from Ohio, US, are recovering with help from a different device, which allows them to stay out of an iron lung and stay smiling. They are pictured on a special rocking bed, designed to move air in and out of the lungs by using gravity.