American Paul Alexander, who lived for 72 years in a machine helping him breathe after contracting polio as a child, has died.
- Paul Alexander, nicknamed “the man in an iron lung” has died at the age of 78.
- He contracted polio in 1952 when he was 6 years old. This disease paralyzed him from the neck down. He had been placed in a machine that helped him breathe.
- Vaccination helps prevent this deadly disease.
Paul Alexander, nicknamed “the man in an iron lung”, died at the age of 78. The death of the man who lived for more than 7 decades in a machine helping him breathe was announced on Tuesday March 12 on Facebook by his brother Philip.
Paul Alexander: more than 70 years in an iron lung
It was in 1952, when he was 6 years old, that Paul Alexander contracted polio. Although he survived this serious infection, it paralyzed him from the neck down. His lungs no longer worked, so he was placed in a machine – where only his head protruded – which helped him breathe.
The Texan had found a technique allowing him to breathe alone for “prolonged periods”. He contracted his throat muscles to force air into his lungs. However, the device remained essential to him. The machine also allowed him to live as normal a life as possible: he studied at university to become a lawyer and then opened his own firm. He also published his memoirs. Having spent more than 70 years in the machine, he held the record for time spent in a “lung of steel”.
His relatives did not specify the cause of his death in their message, but a recent video posted on Paul Alexander’s official TikTok account indicated that he had contracted Covid-19. Christopher Ulmer, the organizer of a fundraising campaign to finance his medical costs, wrote on the GoFundMe page: “his story has traveled far and had a positive influence on people around the world.”
Poliomyelitis: a deadly disease that mainly affects children
Poliomyelitis is a highly contagious disease that mainly affects children under 5 years old. It is caused by a virus called poliovirus. The latter enters the nervous system and can cause paralysis within a few hours.“Irreversible paralysis (of the legs in general) occurs in approximately one in 200 infected people. Without palliative measures, between 5 and 10% of paralyzed patients die of asphyxiation due to paralysis of the muscles providing ventilation”specifiesPastor Institute.
Although there is no treatment for this disease, a polio vaccine can prevent it. Before vaccination, polio affected more than 600,000 children per year worldwide. 101 cases were recorded in 2015. “As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio. If polio is not eradicated from these last strongholds, a global resurgence of the disease is possible,” warns theWHO which supports the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
Paul Alexander, the man who lived in an iron lung for over 70 years in Dallas, has passed away at the age of 78 pic.twitter.com/mzUDBXGPcb
— Dallas Texas TV (@DallasTexasTV) March 13, 2024
