Polio in America
The American Polio Epidemic
The polio virus ran rampant during the 20th century, spreading fear throughout the States. Nobody knew what caused the disease or why children were its main victims, and a cure was nowhere to be found. In acts of desperation, houses with affected residents were quarantined. Transportation to and from certain areas was restricted. And worst of all, families were torn apart, sometimes permanently, when infected children were isolated in hospitals.
The polio virus was discovered in 1908 by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper. It infected the body’s nervous system and damaged important cells that control swallowing, circulation, and respiration. It caused paralysis in the arms and legs, and in some cases, it caused death. In 1916, 27,000 people contracted polio in the U.S., and 6,000 died because of it. An even worse outbreak followed in 1952, with 58,000 cases and 3,000 deaths.
Perhaps even scarier than the disease itself was knowing that nobody was safe, not even future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who lost his ability to walk when he contracted polio at the age of 39.
During Roosevelt’s second term of presidency, he began an organization called the March of Dimes, which raised money for polio research. This money most notably funded the efforts of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, who invented polio vaccines that at long last ended the American polio epidemic.
6
President Franklin Roosevelt stricken by polio, in a wheelchair
Staged photo of a respirator ward filled with iron lungs
March of Dimes advertisement
Newspapers announcing the polio vaccine