The Iron Lung Is Gone, Polio Isn't: Experts Warn Against Complacency as Last American Iron Lung User Dies at 78
核心洞察
Martha Lillard, the last American to use an iron lung, died at age 78 from chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome (搜索), marking the end of a chapter in medical history.
Professor Kristine Macartney of NCIRS warns that vaccination success has bred complacency, with Australia's childhood immunization rates dropping from 95% in 2020 to 92% in 2025.
Wild poliovirus remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and recent wastewater detection in Perth underscores that polio (搜索) still poses a threat to under-immunized communities.
Martha Lillard, a 78-year-old Oklahoma woman who contracted polio (搜索) at age 5 and became the last American to rely on an iron lung, has died. Her death certificate lists chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome (搜索) as the causes, with her sister noting that long-haul COVID also played a role. Lillard's passing marks the end of an extraordinary chapter in medical history — one that experts say should serve as a stark reminder rather than a signal that polio belongs solely to the past.
Lillard was diagnosed with polio (搜索) in the early 1950s, before the vaccine became available in 1955. The disease left her paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on a negative-pressure ventilator — the iron lung — to help her breathe while she slept. Despite her condition, she attended school two hours a day, used an intercom system to interact with classmates, took road trips in a custom trailer that accommodated the machine, and later regained use of her left arm and legs through therapy. She lived independently for many years and even married earlier this year.
"She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life," her younger sister, Cindy McVey, told The Associated Press. "They told her she wasn't supposed to live past 20 years old."
Vaccination Success and the Rise of Complacency
The iron lung became an enduring symbol of the global polio (搜索) epidemics of the 1940s and 1950s, when hospital wards were lined with rows of patients fighting to stay alive. Mass vaccination campaigns transformed that reality. The United States eliminated polio by 1979, and Australia eliminated continuous transmission in 2000.
Yet that very success has created an unexpected challenge, according to Professor Kristine Macartney, director of Australia's National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (搜索) (NCIRS).
"We are in many ways victims of our own success," Macartney told 7NEWS.com.au. "Some people have become complacent about the need for keeping up to date with immunisations, but that shouldn't be the case because so many of these diseases haven't disappeared and polio (搜索) is a perfect example of that."
The data support her concern. A major report released this month found that Australia's childhood immunization coverage among one-year-olds fell from 95% in 2020 to 92% in 2025 — a decline that experts say could open the door to diseases once thought conquered.
Polio (搜索) Has Not Disappeared
Wild poliovirus remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while outbreaks continue to emerge in under-immunized communities elsewhere. The threat hit closer to home for Australians earlier this year when traces of poliovirus were detected in a Perth wastewater sample during routine surveillance — the first such detection in more than 50 years. Health authorities stressed the finding posed a very low risk and was likely linked to an overseas traveler, but said it underscored the importance of maintaining high vaccination coverage and ongoing surveillance.
"It's critical that we maintain very high continuous vaccination rates against polio (搜索) because, although we are on the cusp of eliminating this virus from the globe, there are still many polio outbreaks around the world," Macartney said. "They don't present an immediate risk to Australia because of our high vaccination rates but, were they to fall, that does pose a risk."
Beyond Polio (搜索): A Broader Warning
Macartney emphasized that the lesson extends far beyond polio (搜索). "The only disease that we have eradicated through vaccination from the world is the disease of smallpox," she said. "All of the other, more than 20, diseases that we routinely vaccinate against are still out there. They're still a threat to us if we don't vaccinate against them."
She pointed to rising measles cases overseas as a reminder that vaccine-preventable diseases can quickly resurge when immunization rates decline. For Macartney, who spent decades as a hospital-based physician, the most painful moments are not the statistics but the conversations with families who made different choices.
"One of the saddest things to hear is when someone says, 'I didn't vaccinate because I didn't know how serious the disease could be,'" she said.
With misinformation continuing to circulate online, Macartney urged people to seek advice from qualified health professionals and trusted medical sources. "Vaccines have proven themselves to save lives, and we need to continue to protect ourselves against these diseases through the use of these safe vaccines," she said.
Lillard contracted COVID-19 (搜索) twice during the pandemic, which left her in the iron lung nearly 24 hours a day. Before her COVID diagnosis, she had just 25% lung capacity. Her death, Macartney suggested, should serve as a reminder of what vaccination has achieved — and what remains at stake.
"This historic milestone in the United States, for all of us to remember, that polio (搜索) can still strike anyone in the world, anywhere, and it has devastating effects with lifelong paralysis in those who survive, and some people die from polio," Macartney said.
The iron lung has almost disappeared from the world. Experts hope the memory of why it existed never does.