Éliane Fuseau was born in a small village in rural France in 1948. When she was 3 years old, she contracted poliomyelitis (polio), a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, which largely affects children under 5 years of age. While most poliovirus infections are asymptomatic, others lead to flu-like symptoms, followed within hours to days by weakness and acute flaccid paralysis of the muscles. For Éliane, the infection led to paralysis in her leg.

At the time, Éliane was the only child in her village with a polio diagnosis and, due to the area’s limited medical facilities, she was sent to a paediatric hospital in Tours in central France, where she stayed for 3 months.

Read the rest of the story here on the EMRO website.