Polio Is An Incapacitating And Potentially Fatal Infectious Virus

Polio an American story is a scholarly readable and informative book which covers the lives of many American eminent scientists who struggled a lot to eradicate polio. This book mainly focuses on the mid twentieth century where the people are very eager to find a vaccine to eradicate polio .This book also covers the entire topics from appearance of polio symptoms to post polio syndrome which shows the valuable thesis done by David M. Oshinsky.

Nobody has ever discovered completely how it is that polio is spread. The best evidence suggests that the virus is excreted in the stool and passed through hand to hand or hand to mouth contact by people who do not wash their hands properly or often enough. It was during the first few years of the fifties and many years before then, that health department officials

Poliomyelitis was a highly infectious disease that spread through many Americans in the early 20th century. As a matter of fact, over 3,000 Americans died of the disease each year. Families were overwhelmingly desperate for doctors to find a cure. When one suffered from polio, they generally experienced painful symptoms which included not only fatigue and muscle weakness, but even death. Therefore, when the polio vaccine was introduced by scientist Jonas Salk in 1953, it greatly contributed to Americans in numerous positive ways. Environmentally, the vaccine saved countless young American lives affected by the disease thus decreasing American mortality rates. Socially, the polio vaccine convenienced families who were either directly afflicted

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a disease that attacks the nervous tissue in the spinal cord and the brain stem resulting in paralysis (Document One). Polio is caused by the poliovirus, but it is unknown how this virus is acquired. The virus enters the digestive tract and stays in the intestines for up to eight weeks, and then attacks the lymphatic system, the blood stream and eventually travels to the brain and spine (Document Four). Once it is infected in one’s body, the disease is highly contagious and can be spread through contact of saliva, food, germs, or feces (Document Two). “The poliovirus causes most of its infections in the summer and fall. At one time, summer epidemics of polio were common and greatly feared” (Document Four). This may

When the Polio outbreak was thriving in 1953, Jonas Salk wasn’t just lying around. He was tiredly working on the improvement of the Polio vaccine (Fact Check). The previous vaccine was unreliable and unaffective. It led some patients to be infected with Polio and die

With a substantial amount of preventive healthcare advancements behind them, the American medical community turned its attention to the deadly polio virus plaguing America. From 1937 to 1952, known cases of Americans contracting polio skyrocketed from ten thousand to a staggering figure of roughly fifty-seven thousand cases. Of those cases within that time period, approximately one thousand five hundred deaths as a result of polio were recorded. In the year 1953, The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis provided the scientist Dr. Jonas Salk with the tools necessary to research, and develop a working vaccine to combat the devastating polio disease. After much trial and error, Dr. Salk was finally able to create what he felt was a successful polio vaccination, and proceeded to conduct a field test. After resounding success, manufacturing instructions for the Salk vaccine were sent to a series of scientific laboratories for immediate production and administration to American children. The disaster that occurred next will forever be known through American medical history as the Cutter Incident (named so after one of the labs that administered the polio vaccine). This medical crisis sent shockwaves throughout America and the medical community, and numerous lawsuits were filed against Cutter Laboratories, resulting in fewer and fewer labs willing to accept contract work in developing vaccines.

With the last outbreak of Polio in the US being in 1979, many today have no recollection of the terror of this disease. The disease primarily infected children, and there seemed to be no pattern to who succumbed to it. No one could feel safe. Polio as a disease presents such horrors that even those who overcome it once can be plagued by its aftereffects in later life. Before vaccines, single outbreaks could devastate entire communities. One outbreak

Misinformation about polio vaccine and political unrest has been cited as the main challenges holding back the global goal of achieving a polio-free world, a study has revealed.

Once America’s most feared diseases and causing death and paralysis across the country, thanks to vaccination, there are no reports of polio in the United States.

Polio is a deadly virus that hit america in the 1930s (Franklin Roosevelt founds...N.P.). Franklin Roosevelt founds March of Dimes Polio is also known to be a crippling disease, which affected Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the age of 39. But, on January the third he created a foundation for a cure for polio called March of Dimes(Franklin Roosevelt founds March of Dimes N.P.).10 years later he created a foundation,Warm Springs Foundation, which focus entirely on the treatment of people with polio(Franklin Roosevelt founds March of Dimes N.P.). In 1934, a business, Henry Doherty donated $25,000 to establish a series of birthday balls(Franklin Roosevelt founds March of Dimes N.P.). In the first year they raised 1 million dollars off

Whens the last time someone developed Polio? Not in a long time, this is because we have developed vaccines to protect us. “Vaccines work by introducing diluted versions of viruses or bacteria into a person's body via injection” (Mandatory Vaccination). Since the discovery of vaccinations the medical world has changed forever. In today’s world many families have strong beliefs against vaccinations due to various myths and misconceptions. Since the discovery scientist have created vaccines for many illnesses around the world. When traveling abroad or anywhere to be precautious ask a doctor about vaccine protocols. This also would help prevent the spread of outbreaks. Everyone should be vaccinated because with everyone's immunity built up outbreaks

Eradication of disease through the simple administration of a shot seems like the perfect solution to a complicated problem. Right? The presence of the polio virus had been a growing cause of hysteria throughout the course of history. With cases documented back into the 1700’s, the thought of polio, a virus that causes extensive paralysis, wrecked havoc on the minds of every mother and father in the world. This fear grew as the spread of the virus continued to span the globe. Parents everywhere from New York City to the African Congo were constantly concerned that their children would be the next to fall ill. During the height of the Polio scare of the early 20th century, scientists knowledge of the poliovirus expanded and they were able to

This disease has killed and paralyzed many. One of polio’s fatal symptoms is paralyzing muscles that help you breathe (“Polio Vaccine”).

B. Signs and Symptoms: Approximately 95 percent of people who are infected with poliovirus will not have any symptoms, however, people who are infected and do not have any polio indicators can still spread the poliovirus. People who become infected with the poliovirus can start having symptoms as soon as four days after being infected, and not have any symptoms for as many as thirty five days. This time period between infection and experiencing symptoms is referred to as “The Incubation Period,” which is when the virus begins to multiply within the cells that line the back of the throat, nose, and intestines(“Signs and symptoms of Polio.” eMedtv.com. Clinaero Inc., 2006-2012. Sunday 4-22-12). For the

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is an infectious disease that manifests as a variety of symptoms, the most severe of which is paralysis which can lead to permanent disability and death. Some people show no symptoms at all. Children who recover from polio at a young age may develop new symptoms later in life (“CDC Global Health - Polio - What Is Polio?,” n.d.). Polio was considered a disease of developed countries for much of the 1900s. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, prevalence of polio in schoolchildren in developing countries across the world was found to be much higher than in the United States (Modlin, 2010). By 2000, polio has been mostly eradicated around the world, with the number of cases having fallen by more than 99%. Today, there are only a few countries that still have new cases of polio each year and the total number of reported polio cases is, on average, less than 100 each year (“CDC Global Health - Polio - Updates on CDC’s Polio Eradication Efforts - March 18, 2016,” n.d.). Vaccination exists for polio, with two forms currently in use. The live poliovirus vaccination is more effective and widely used in endemic regions, while the inactive vaccination is used in areas where polio has been eradicated (Modlin, 2010).