The 1944 Polio Epidemic of Newark, New Jersey during World War II

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

In this book he clearly portrayed polio from different perspective, He narrated stories of different researchers he mined their

Heather Green Wooten’s The Polio Years in Texas: Battling a Terrifying Unknown chronicles the history of polio in Texas in a very extensive timeline. The book goes all the way back to the beginning of the polio epidemic and essentially progresses to the present. The time in this book certainly exceeds that of, The Captured and Isaac’s Storm. The Captured chronicled a long period of captivity, but did not appear to exceed a decade. Isaac’s Storm traced the initial development of Weather Bureau and covered a great period, but did not exceed that of The Polio Years. Several themes begin to emerge further into the book. Obvious themes included, the support for March of Dimes, impact on families affected by polio, the growth and development of rehabilitation facilities, and more importantly the response to the disease by Texans. Oddly, Wooten discusses the fact that other diseases such as, measles, diphtheria, and tuberculosis took more lives than Polio. However, people feared Polio more than the rest. Wooten attributes polio’s terrifying affect to the uncertainty. Several uncertainties such as, how to prevent it, why did some become crippled, why did some die, and why did it only essentially affected children made polio very terrifying in the 20th century. Texas appeared to have been hit the hardest in comparison to other states. Wooten’s research examined the time during and then after World War II. During this period, Texas saw an immense amount of polio contractions. Per

In literature, a character’s unique perspective on common human experiences can both engage the reader, and vastly contribute to a text’s endearing value and significance. The Catcher in The Rye offers a rich portrayal of such themes as, the impact of alienation as a form of self-preservation, resistance to change, and the psychological effects of unresolved grief. By telling the story directly through the first-person narration of Holden Caulfield, Salinger offers an unusually in-depth perspective of an emotionally complex character, who is struggling to find his place in the world. Unlike many coming of age stories, the reader of Salinger’s novel is left with a strong sense that Holden will continue to struggle with the protective wall of

In the stories, “The Most Dangerous Game”, “Liberty”, and “Harrison Bergeron” all compare among their similarities. Each story uses the setting and their conflicts to show the theme and the characteristics of each character. In these stories, they all have different conflicts and settings, but they use the conflicts and settings to relate to each other in their characters and the themes.

Before the establishment of the NHS in 1948, many of working family suffer from lack of access to hospital care and Lack of access to health care (Matthews 2009). In Wales the people of village or town looked after their own, and help was usually at hand. Of course, such help was usually basic (Carradice 2015). Life in the 20th century, existed of poverty and dirty conditions. Life expectancy in 20th century for men were 48 years old and for women everyday experience like childbirth can be life threating (Williams 2013). In the 19th century 150 in 1000 infant died before there 1st birthday (Williams 2013). Midwifes in the 19th century were untrained, unregulated and unpaid; this all changed in 1902 when the 1st state regulation of midwives

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

Grievance, a controversial theme, has higher infection rates than even the common cold ; Everyone, regardless of appearance, stature, and social status will indefinitely experience it some time in their life. In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, Salinger depicts a boy called Holden whom flunks and runs away from school, only to unexpectedly embark on a journey through the streets of New York City. He hires prostitutes, fights with gargantuan 250 pound pimps, and gets drunk from alcohol at bars. Not only does he isolate himself from others to protest against conformity, he also does so to reach some form of closure or end to his grievance of the death of his late brother, Allie. Through examining the actions and thoughts of Holden, it reveals

When one finds themselves in a reader’s position, they search for things in the novel that they can relate to. J. D. Salinger wrote a story that contained countless topics that people, past, present and future, can relate to in several ways. The novel follows the story of a troubled boy named Holden who leaves school due to his poor academic performance, an altercation with his roommate, and complications with his emotions due to the traumatic loss of his brother. He quickly understands how his narrow view of the world will lead him into trouble when he finds himself alone. The reader accompanies Holden through his stressful experiences

Not necessarily. In the United States, routine vaccination against smallpox ended in 1972. The level of immunity, if any, among those vaccinated before 1972 is uncertain; therefore, these persons are assumed to be susceptible. For those who were vaccinated, it is not known how long immunity lasts. Most estimates suggest that the vaccine gives full immunity to disease for 3 to 5 years. This means that a minority of the U.S. population has partial immunity at best. Immunity can be boosted effectively with a single revaccination. Prior infection with smallpox makes a person immune for the rest of their life.

“The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus” Nobel Prize winner Joshua Lederberg once said. Throughout history, this statement has proved to be true. In fourteenth century Europe, the Bubonic Plague killed off almost half of the European population. During the first interactions between Columbus and the natives, Smallpox eradicated entire Native tribes. And in the time of the Industrial Revolution, cholera outbreaks have left millions dead. Since their outbreaks, many of these deadly viruses have been met with cures, saving millions of lives to come. However, for almost 3,500 years, one incurable virus had been attacking humanity: the poliovirus.1P

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.

The similarity between the poliovirus and already solved plant virus’s led to a better understanding of how the poliovirus can regenerate within a host. Although the virus was similar to other plant viruses. The poliovirus was covered with more elaborate loops that are the site of monoclonal antibody escape mutations (Hogle, Chow and 229: 1358-1365Filman, Science). Individual proteins of the virus particle are produced by proteolytic cleavages from a larger precursor, yet the amino and carboxy-termini produced by proteolysis are very distinct. By noting this, Hogle and his team were able to conclude that proteolysis was not just making a lot of proteins from one gene, it is also controlling the timing of assembly (Hogle, Chow and Filman, Science 229: 1358-1365).

“A 1916 Polio epidemic in the United States killed 6,000 people and paralyzed 27,000 more” (“Polio Vaccine”). This lead to the creation of the polio vaccine that has helped to prevent polio for a very long time. The IPV and OPV vaccines played a huge role in all of this. Jonas Salk, who created the IPV vaccine and Albert Sabin, who created the OPV vaccine saved millions of people all around the world from polio (Petersen, Jennifer B). The IPV and OPV polio vaccine helped eliminate polio from the United States and helped prevent polio in other parts of the world (“Polio Vaccine”).

The discovery of the polio vaccine was an important medical and scientific breakthrough because it saved many lives since the 1950s. In the summer of 1916 the great polio epidemic struck the United states. By the 1950s hundreds of thousands of people had been struck by the poliomyelitis. The highest number of cases occurred in 1953 with over 50,000 people infected with the virus.