Polio+and+Post-Polio


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 * =History of Polio Epidemics in the U. S.=
 * =FDR and Public Awareness of Polio=
 * =Treatment of Polio=
 * =Polio Research and Vaccines=
 * =Post-Polio Syndrome=

=Research summaries:=

Wilson, Daniel J. //Living With Polio: The Epidemic and its Survivors//. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005.

(pg. 1)
 * Polio was one of the most feared diseases that could strike children and adolescents.
 * Poliovirus circulated more during summer when it was hot and people would group together more and swim in close areas together.
 * Parents warned their children about being careful: no close contact and to avoid water and public areas.
 * Parents dreaded the idea that their healthy young children could be infected and possible become crippled for life.
 * Polio was highly contagious.
 * Polio often resulted in paralysis, so victims would expect being in physical therapy for long periods of time.

(pg. 2)
 * Post-polio syndrome usually occurs after several decades of individuals pushing their bodies: the muscles and nerves wear out after years of straining them.
 * Polio was “associated in the public mind with the period from 1930 to 1960…”

(pg. 3)
 * In the 1940s-‘50s, people of the ages 5-9 and above 10 made up the most cases of polio.
 * The rate of people with polio increased in the ‘40s and the ‘50s.
 * The years between 1944 and 1955 were the 10 worst epidemic years in the US between 1912 and 1970.
 * The years 1937-1955 had 415,624 reported cases of polio. 87% of these cases occurred in 1944-1955.
 * FDR inspired Americans for determination and restored their confidence.

(pg. 4)
 * NFIP (National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis) informed the public of methods to prevent polio.

(pg. 11)
 * Early polio symptoms seemed like a normal flu, so most people didn’t know that they had polio until it had gotten much worse.
 * Once the polio was identified, the victim was hurried immediately to an isolation ward.

(pg. 12)
 * Because children were so often sick with mild viruses, early polio symptoms were generally ignored.

[Valerie Makri]

Smithsonian National Museum of American History. “Whatever Happened to Polio?” //National Museum of American History//. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. .

The American Epidemics Communities Polio hit people everywhere, mostly in July, August, and September. Polio is also called infantile paralysis. Not many people showed symptoms, and even less died or were paralyzed. The first large epidemic was in New York in 1916. There were more than 9000 cases and 2343 deaths. Nationally, there were 27000 cases and 6000 deaths. The largest national epidemic was in 1952 with 57628 reported cases. Polio mostly hit kids, but sometimes hit teen and adults. From 1949 to 1954, 35% of reported polio cases were adults. In Vermont in 1894 was the first known case of polio in the US. The last polio outbreak was in 1979, and the people who got it were Amish citizens who had refused to get the vaccine. Families and Individuals When someone had polio, they were quarantined, and for 10-14 days they were not allowed any contact with other people. Then for weeks after that they were only allowed to have limited visiting. In 95% of people with polio, no symptoms or minor symptoms occur. For 5% of cases, people have flu symptoms (fever, stiff neck, nausea, fatigue, or temporary paralysis). 1% of cases with polio symptoms have very severe paralytic polio, and have lasting paralysis. In this 1% of sever polio cases, 2-5% of children and 10-20% of adults die. No animals get polio, only humans. The Medical Community Nurses who were attending people in iron lungs had to be alert all the time because they needed to decide what to do to provide the patient with air. In Los Angeles in 1934 during an epidemic, 5% of doctors and 11% of nurses who cared for people with polio got it. Lumbar puncture, also known as spinal tap, was originally used in 1891 relieve kids with hydrocephalus (when fluid accumulates and causes pressure on the brain). It became a way to diagnose polio.

How Polio Changed Us Disability Rights People with disabilities were continually denied their rights. They were not given jobs, they had restrictions on education, and many other things. People who had polio and were paralyzed became disabled, and faced these restrictions too. Many of them were the leaders of the disability rights movement. March of Dimes The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later renamed the March of Dimes), was founded in 1938. The March of Dimes asked everyone to donate a small amount of money to care for people with polio and to fund research for a polio vaccine. The money from it funded Jonas Salk, who invented the polio vaccine and 1954. The Medical World Polio can destroy 60% of motor neurons before any weakness or paralysis shows. Polio brought many changes to medical practices. Elizabeth Kenny brought new methods of helping with paralysis in the 1940s. She put hot-packs on patients and stretched and massaged their muscles. It was painful, but it worked. Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Roosevelt got polio when he was 39 in 1921. He heard that the hot springs in Warm Springs, Georgia could help heal you, so he visited them to see. The hot springs helped him, so he bought them and created the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which later became the March of Dimes. Roosevelt became president in 1933.

[Alana Rosenbaum]

====Poliomyelitis (polio or infantile paralysis) is a disease caused by a virus that infects the nervous system. It can cause complete paralysis within hours. Polio mostly affects children under 5 years old; 50% of cases occur in this age group. Infection is spread by person to person contact. Most people who become infected with the polio virus do not develop paralysis or the symptoms of polio infection; in fact, only 1% develops paralytic polio. The virus is mainly spread in places with poor sanitation and hygiene. There is a vaccination that can be given to prevent polio. It was created by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1955. Prior to that, mankind suffered from polio epidemics dating back to ancient times. In the very early 1900s, the world was subject to a pandemic of polio. In 1952, the United States was suffering from the worst polio outbreak in the country’s history. This devastating outbreak was the driving force behind Dr. Salk’s discovery of a vaccination for the disease.====

====After someone is infected with polio and develops paralysis, they have a chance of developing post-polio syndrome later in life. It happens within 15-40 years after the original illness. The main symptoms of post-polio syndrome are progressive muscle weakness, severe fatigue and pain in muscles and joints. Symptoms that are less common are muscle atrophy, breathing and swallowing difficulties, sleeping disorders, and cold intolerance. There are no tests available to diagnose post-polio syndrome. In other words, post-polio diagnosis relies on systematically ruling out other causes of a patient’s symptoms before diagnosing someone with post-polio syndrome.====

[Jaki Vipond]

Wilson, Daniel. //Living With Polio//. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005. Print.

Polio had symptoms similar to that of the common flu, like headaches, fevers, and sore muscles. Polio symptoms also included nausea, vomiting, and stiffness of the neck and back. Polio was often diagnosed only once the patient was in a severe condition because only then would they realize how serious their condition was. Most patients were tested with a spinal tap when they were admitted to the hospital. A spinal tap was where the doctor would insert a long needle into the patient’s spinal column and collect some fluid. The fluid would be analyzed to find any traces of polio. Once polio was confirmed, the patient would be sent to the hospital’s isolation ward so the disease wouldn’t spread. No one besides doctors and nurses were allowed in the ward, so many children were separated from their families during treatment. If a patient was having respiratory paralysis, they would be put into an iron lung. The iron lung would help the patient breathe for as long as it was needed until he or she could breathe on their own again. Other patients that were just paralyzed would wait until the polio virus passed and then begin the rehabilitation process where they would undergo daily exercises and muscle stretching. Physical therapists would apply hot packs relaxing the patient’s muscles to make stretching easier. After a few months, patients would start learning how to get around with braces, crutches, or wheelchairs (Wilson 25-27). Even after recovering from polio, some people had what is called Post-Polio Syndrome. Post-Polio Syndrome is when someone who had polio experiences symptoms of polio again, like muscle weakness and recurrent falling. This forces the person to completely rely on equipment like wheelchairs for support (Wilson 104-107).

[Samah Ahmed]

Whatever Happened to Polio." //National Museum of American History//. Smithsonian National Museum of American History Behring Center, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2010. []. The first polio epidemic was in 1916 in New York City, and there were more than 9000 cases and 2943 deaths. The epidemics got bigger and bigger, and in 1952, 57,628 cases were reported, a record. That year, 27,000 cases and 6,000 deaths were reported and many were quarantined. Outbreaks usually occurred in July, August and September and 35 % of polio victims in the years 1949 – 1954 were adults. 95% of polio victims had few or no symptoms. Almost all of the remaining 5% had a form that can be mistaken for the flu. About 1% of that 5% had paralytic polio, which could leave victims damaged permanently. 2-5%of children and 10-20% of adults died from that strain of polio. Not even doctors and nurses were safe: in 1934 5% of doctors treating polio victims, and 11% of nurses, got polio. In 1908 the poliovirus was discovered by Erwin Popper and Karl Landsteiner. (It was first documented with an electron microscope in 1953.) Franklin Delano Roosevelt got polio in 1921 (he was 31 at the time). He became president in 1933, and Basil O’Connor organized Roosevelt’s Birthday Balls to raise money for polio victims. They were so successful that they merged with the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which was an organization established in 1938 by FDR. This was renamed March of the Dimes, after a pun made by comedian Eddie Cantor. It was thought up by FDR, and organized by Basil O’Connor, and was designed to get financial aid for people with disabilities. It was also the first charity to rely on lots of small donations instead of few big ones. It financed the work on the two vaccines and other research. In 1939, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis began distributing tank respirators (which cost about as much as a house) for polio patients. In 1940 Elizabeth Kenny emigrated from Australia with controversial new methods for treating polio which included hot packs and muscle massaging. A political movement in the 1970 and ‘60s called Design for All was established by Ron Mae and Ruth Lusher (they both had polio) lobbied architects and others to help ensure that buildings were accessible for all. The Salk vaccine was tried out for the first time in 1952, and a larger trial made was in 1954. This one used a killed virus. The Vaccination Assistance Act of 1962 was made because of the effectiveness of the Sabin vaccine. The Sabin vaccine (which was oral and the virus was only weakened, not killed) came out the same year. This act gave $36 million to the states for free vaccines for polio and other diseases children get. In 1963 Jonas Salk founded the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He set this up in La Jolla, California. In 1977, the centers for Disease Control organized a week every year set aside for immunizing babies, especially against polio.

[Ruth Kahn]