2024-03-14 12:19:55
Paul Alexander died at the age of 78 after having lived for more than 70 years in a steel machine that helped him breathe. It was his relatives responsible for a fundraiser launched on GoFoundMe in November 2002 to help him (Paul lived in a small windowless studio and had difficulty paying for his care), who announced his death.
Paul Alexander had a TikTok page with the nickname @ironlungman
Victim of poliomyelitis at the age of 6
The cause of his death is not known, however we do know that Paul Alexander was hospitalized last February due to Covid-19. But it’s another viral and contagious disease now almost eradicated who changed his destiny when he was still a child.
At age 6, Paul Alexander contracted poliomyelitis, colloquially called “polio”. In 1 to 2% of cases, the virus in question (the poliovirus) reaches the motor neurons of the spinal cord or other motor regions of the the nervous system central, causing paralysis, generally of the legs, or irreversible deformities of the limbs. The disease is extremely disabling when it involves the swallowing muscles or respiratory muscles. Due to the risk of asphyxiation, respiratory assistance is then necessary.
The iron lung, widely used in the 20th century
Invented in 1927, the iron lung is a ventilation device used during the 20th century to help people suffering from serious respiratory failure. In particular polio patients who had a paralysis of the diaphragm.
The patient rests in a steel box, of which only the head protrudes. “A pump makes it possible to periodically create a negative pressure around the thorax, which causes the rib cage to increase in volume and air to enter the lungs. When the negative pressure ceases, the thorax returns to its initial volume which causes expiration » (source 1) A mode of operation which in some way reproduces human physiological breathing.
The iron lung is now practically no longer used. He was replaced by positive pressure fans.
A disease almost eradicated thanks to vaccination
As for the infectious disease at the origin of numerous epidemics in the 1950s and 1960s, it was almost eradicated throughout the world thanks to the arrival of polio vaccination (introduced in France in 1958 and became compulsory in 1964). According to the WHO, the World Health Organization (source 2), “there are only two endemic countries today (October 2023)”.
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