Case File: Polio Part 1

For the first half of the twentieth century, a microscopic boogeyman plagued hundreds of thousands of innocent families whether they were rich or poor. This haunting aspect of life was known as the Poliovirus. Although the disease is now contained through vaccinations and treatments, for families back then it was such a terrifying presence that summers became known as polio season. Notable summers of fear occurred in the first epidemic level outbreak of the disease in 1916 and later in 1952.

            Why was there such panic? The simple answer is that polio was a devastating illness that especially targeted children. Polio usually led to some form of paralysis. It might result in paralysis in one leg or two; or if the paralysis reached the spine and the torso, it could force a victim into a medical device called an iron lung just to keep them alive.

            The College of Wooster and the people of Wayne County were aware of the threat and fear created by polio. In the summer of 1952, there was a bad outbreak of polio in both Wayne and Medina Counties. ^[i] The fear of this outbreak led to schools reopening two weeks later than normal and led to both counties cancelling their annual county fairs. In the College, almost every copy of The Wooster Voice for the fall semester featured a brief notification that a student would not be able to return as they had contracted the virus over the summer. These fears were gradually put to rest following the release of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine in 1955 and that of Ohio’s own Albert Sabin, who’s vaccine was released in 1961. The country made a Herculean effort to rid itself of the virus as numerous mass immunizations were performed. Children and adults alike who are all there to finally free themselves of the fear of polio. A dream that was soon realized as by the early 1970s as Polio became a well contained threat with annual cases at 25 per year when in previous years that number could have been in the thousands.

^[i] Earl Kleinschmidt, Mabel Abbot and Ilah Kauffman. “The Health Department and Poliomyelitis: Administrative Factors in Wayne and Medina Counties, Ohio” (NCBI) 1109-1114. 

Header: Grillet, Alain. “Polio Virus.” online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sanofi-pasteur/5280384448.

Figure 1: Coon, Bob. “A Polio Ward in Church Basement for the Akron Children’s Hospital.” 1952. Online at Cleveland Memory Project.

Figure 2: Unknown. “Patient in Iron Lung.” (United Stated: United States Army, 1949.) Online at the National Library of Medicine.

Figure 3: “The Health Department and Poliomyelitis: Administrative Factors in Wayne and Medina Counties, Ohio”

Figure 4: Unknown. “Jonas E. Salk.” 1955. Online at the National Library of Medicine.