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.
BOOK REVIEW POLIO AN AMERICAN STORY BY DAVID M.OCHINSKY PHAR 6605 Pharmaceutical Industry structure and government regulations PRESENTED BY: Asakiran Nadikatla PRESENTED TO: Gerard Cleaves 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
Diseases cause malfunctions and disorders in the human health system and might completely change a human’s life. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the thirty-second president of the United States, was diagnosed of Infantile Paralysis, which weakens the functions of muscles. On August 11th, 1921, FDR, the newly elected president of New York’s
Polymyelitis, otherwise known as polio, was one of the most feared diseases of the early to mid twentieth century. This disease either killed or it paralyzed its’ victims. This affected America in such a terrible way by killing or paralyzing thousands of them within the beginning of the twentieth century alone, scaring most other Americans and putting up a red flag for most health organizations. President Roosevelt, however, conceived the idea of initiating the charity that would later
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
First and foremost, I thoroughly enjoyed Guerrini's "Polio and Primates" and found it to be both informative and engaging. I did not realize prior to the reading that the path to the polio vaccine was a rushed and flawed one. I wonder how much the misinformation spread across the scientific and non-scientific communities alike as a result of Flexner's research truly "delayed the understanding of polio's complex clinic and epidemiological features" (p. 119). The reading also left me curious as to how the trajectory of polio research would have changed if President Roosevelt had never contracted it during his presidency, since his prominence ultimately led research on the virus to become a national priority. The subsequent public pressure to develop a vaccine further rushed its development with the promise to
Polio, something that can devastate anyone and everyone so very quickly. In 1953, you didn’t know when you could be infected with this life threatening disease.
Not long after, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who created the national foundation for infantile paralysis (NFIP) had himself paralyzed by polio too. He take this as a wakeup call and then began starting and organizing the massive research to test the effectiveness of polio vaccines which created by Jonas Salk. However, in order to that, require a lot of money, complicated procedures and not to forget, the subject to test the vaccines (Rebecca Skloot).
When president FDR was 39 years old he found out that he had poliomyelitis (Polio) disease. . He tried to regain his capability to use his legs by swimming therapy for several years, but it did him no good.He was unable to use his legs at all. None of the reporters printed the fact that FDR was unable to walk, and the photographers avoided taking pictures of him in his wheelchair. Which amaze me that his public
David Oshinsky's 2005 Polio: An American Story, is a history of the fight to eradicate polio in the 20th century. Polio became one of the most, if not THE most, feared diseases of the century due to the influence and example of President Franklin Roosevelt, who was stricken with the disease as an adult in 1921. Owner of a Warm Springs, GA resort dedicated to polio rehabilitation(where he died in 1945), Roosevelt needed to raise funds to keep the resort operational. In 1934, he allowed planners to throw a nationwide series of birthday parties (over 6,000) for him to raise money for the care of polio survivors and for the upkeep of Warm Springs. The success of these parties and recognition that the key to raising money during the Great Depression
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 is an infectious disease that has killed and paralyzed many people (Birth of Jonas Salk and the death of polio in India). It has taken the lives of