Polio epidemics were first identified in 1894 in Vermont, and in 1916, the virus affected at least 9,000 people in New York City. The worst year for polio epidemics in the US was 1954, with 58,000 cases reported. Today, polio epidemics are most likely to occur in India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Afghanistan. The disease is caused by the poliovirus, and symptoms range from mild to devastating. There is no cure, but the first vaccine was developed in 1955. Polio was feared in the past because there was no cure, and those who couldn’t use their lungs were doomed to live in iron lungs. Famous people affected by polio include Jack Nicklaus, Joni Mitchell, and Itzhak Perlman. Poliomyelitis today is caused by two forms of the poliovirus, and not all parts of the world have succeeded in eradicating wild poliovirus.
Definitive polio epidemics weren’t identified until 1894, when 132 people in Vermont were diagnosed with the virus. In 1916, the polio virus affected at least 9,000 people in New York City, while the rest of those affected in the United States (USA) went unrecorded. After World War II ended in 1945, polio epidemics broke out in the United States on an annual basis until 1949. The worst year for polio epidemics in the United States was 1954, when 58,000 cases were reported. Today, polio epidemics are most likely to occur in India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan.
Poliomyelitis, more commonly called polio, is caused by the poliovirus virus. Symptoms of polio can range from mild, such as vomiting, fatigue and headaches, to devastating, such as paralysis and death. Although there is no cure for polio, the first vaccine to prevent this disease was developed by American medical researcher Jonas Salk (1914-1995) in 1955.
Part of the reason why polio frightened people in the past was because there was, and is, no cure for the disease. Furthermore, those who were no longer able to use their lungs were doomed to live in iron lungs or tank respirators. In the United States, 1,200, 1959 people used iron lungs to survive. By 2004, that number had been reduced to 39.
Famous people have been affected by polio such as golfer Jack Nickolaus (b. 1940), singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell (b. 1943), and violinist Itzhak Perlman (b. 1945). Historical figures who may have had polio include the poet Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) and Louis Auguste de Bourbon (1670-1736), illegitimate son of the French king Louis XIV. Interestingly, some question whether the Roman Emperor Claudius (10 BC-AD 54) and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt – known as polio victims – actually had the disease. Theories today include the idea that Claudius suffered from cerebral palsy and that Roosevelt had a condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Poliomyelitis today is caused by two forms of the poliovirus. The first is the wild form, also called natural poliovirus. Live poliovirus, which is the second form, is transmitted when vaccines that include live poliovirus are used. The last time wild poliovirus caused an infection in the United States was in 1979. Not all parts of the world have succeeded in eradicating wild poliovirus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than 1,500 people worldwide contracted polio in 2009. Although this number is less than the number of people who developed polio the year before, scientists and health officials had hoped that the world would become polio free by the year 2000. Vaccination efforts in affected areas are sometimes affected by fear, ignorance, apathy and war.
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