Next time you plunge into a public swimming pool, take a moment to think of Jonas Salk, the man behind the polio vaccine. On this day in 1954, he launched the first mass inoculations against the much-feared virus. And, well, how many people do you know who ever had a polio scare?
By 1979, through widespread vaccination, the United States was able to totally eradicate polio, a crippling disease that has paralyzed thousands of children around the world. This allowed American parents to forget polio’s horrific toll, and subsequently stop vaccinating their kids against it.
I was recently flipping through some old magazines when I stumbled across a couple telling reminders what life was like before widespread vaccines (well, and antibiotics, t00). Namely, fucking precarious.
Rand Paul, friend of "freedom" and foe of public health said Monday on CNBC: "I've heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines." He continued, "I'm not arguing vaccines are a bad idea. I think they're a good thing. But I think the parents…
For the first time in its history, the World Health Organization declared the spread of polio around the world a public health emergency, cautioning that the recent spread of the disease should be considered an "extraordinary event."
In Northern California’s Bay Area, an illness that resembles polio is affecting children and doctors aren’t sure what it is. The affliction develops as a sudden weakness in the arms and legs or "symptoms of paralysis." If your child exhibits these signs, health officials recommend they see a doctor immediately.
Gunmen shot five Pakistani women who were working on a U.N. polio vaccination campaign in two different cities today. Good morning!
[Chaghcharan, Afghanistan; September 13. Image via Getty]
Martha Mason, whose memoir, Breath, chronicles living since the age of 11 in an iron lung following paralysis from polio, has died at 71. There are perhaps 30 Americans living in iron lungs. [NYT]
