I've Had it Up To Here.

I thought Jonas Salk took care of this back in 1952.

Dr. Salk was the winner of the"great race" to find a vaccine for polio - a condition described as "one of the most dreaded childhood diseases of the 20th century."

Polio epidemics have crippled thousands of people, mostly young children; the disease has caused paralysis and death for much of human history.

Combined with the oral vaccine developed by medical researcher Albert Sabin in 1962, polio was in big trouble. The vaccines reduced the number of children who got polio from hundreds of thousands each year, to less than a thousand. One of the great breakthroughs in medical history.

Apparently, the blanket the vaccines threw over the disease did not cover the whole world. In some of the slums of India, and in other poor regions of the world, the fight against polio continues. Two decades ago, the public health officials in India committed to eradicating the disease from the country by the year 2000.

Well, it's almost 2010, and it's pretty easy for some parents to tell that their goal has not been met. There are children throughout India who still get polio, in spite of the seemingly obvious path before them that should have prevented it. If a child gets polio in 2009, chances are good there has been a breakdown in government, in public health, or in parenting. Or all three.

I've never thought about what the treatment for polio is, largely because I have never come across a person with polio in all my years in the field. But, according to the reliable medical annals of the Internet, the treatment includes physical therapy, hydrotherapy, antibiotics, analgesics, diet and moderate exercise.

Or, if you live in India, you could bury your kid up to his neck in cow manure and wait for a solar eclipse.

Parents from all over India came recently came to the Indian city of Gulbargha to participate in the ritual of "Eclipse Therapy." Parents bury their children with polio up to their waist (if their legs are affected) or up to their necks (if more severely affected) and wait for the eclipse of the sun.

As one might imagine, the children would have preferred a weekend at Water Kingdom in Gorai, Mumbai. At the very least, in the future, they may get a bit jumpy every time the sky starts going dark at 2:00 in the afternoon.

(The children) wailed and cried, but nothing would move the parents who merely pacified them by offering biscuits and candies. A few of the hapless children, unable to struggle any more, fainted and the more resilient fell asleep.

And the crazy thing is, some of these people are totally convinced that it works.

The believers in ‘eclipse therapy’ are many. Nasir Ahmed from Hutti Gold Mines said his child’s left limb was bent and after burying him during the eclipse it got cured. Mohammed Hussain, a State government employee, said his eight-year-old child’s condition improved after the “third treatment”.

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Syed Fareed Ashraf, 3, could not stand and kept his palms closed tight, but after the `solar eclipse mud therapy', is able to stand and also open his palms, says his father, Syed Tajuddin.

Shabana Banu, 12, who was not able to sit by herself, can do so and is also able to stand by herself. Yesterday's therapy was her first, claims her father, Mohammed Abdul Rehman, who lives in Sonia Gandhi Colony in the city.

Usman Pasha, 12, is also reported to be fine. He was unable to walk without crutches, now he is walking by himself, said his father, Sadat Hussain.

Naturally, the practice has it detractors.

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr S S Gubbi said there was absolutely no scientific basis for the practice or connection between the two...

Srishail Ghooli, president of Bharat Jnana Vijnana Samithi, a local rationalist society, termed the ‘eclipse therapy’ as “absolute superstition” and a misconception associated with the solar eclipse.

My take is this. If human beings are capable - even a little capable - of healing themselves through the power of will or the power of prayer, or what have you, this practice will likely bring that to the fore. I know that my kids would likely be capable of accomplishing remarkable things, if failing to do so meant another afternoon nibbling wafers in the manure pile.

In "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," the modern, lead character garnered unchecked power from the people of historical England by "commanding" the moon to cross in front of the sun. People are truly in awe of the powers of the sun and the moon.

If this extraordinary practice of Eclipse Therapy convinces people they can be healed, and if they have evidence to back it up, you just have to sit back and let it ride. We don't know everything.

But it would a lot easier on the kids if you just got them vaccinated.