The History of the Polio Virus

Polio, also known as paralytic poliomyelitis, is a diseased caused by a virus named poliovirus. Though paralysis is the most serious symptom of the disease, only 1 to 2 percent of those infected actually become paralyzed.

Early Cases

• Although the polio epidemic and universal scare didn't occur until the late 19th through the early 20th centuries, polio can be traced back as early as 1580 B.C. to an Egyptian stone engraving of a crippled man depicting what scientists believe to be polio.

Polio in the U.S.

• A large outbreak of polio occurred in the U.S. in 1916. Because there was no cure, the disease was the most feared disease in the country by the time of the Great Depression.

Roosevelt

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted the polio virus in 1921 and was elected president in 1932. Roosevelt founded the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, a center for the study and treatment of polio.

Vaccinations

• Dr. Jonas Salk developed the first injection vaccine for polio in 1954. Seven years later, Dr. Albert Sabin developed a live oral vaccine that was from then on the most widely used vaccine to combat the disease.

Statistics

• During 1916, over 9,000 cases of polio were reported in New York alone, and in 1934, nearly 2500 cases of polio were treated in Los Angeles. By 1964, and with the help of the Sabin vaccination, only 121 polio cases were reported nationally.