Create your own polished presentation in minutes. Just describe what you need.
Free to try, no credit card requiredAmerican Polio Epidemic 1952
Kathleen Vern
7th Hour APUSH
Cooper
Grosse Pointe South
7/2/2015
What is Polio?
When has polio appeared?
Table of Contents
Quiz
Polio Today
Effects of polio include partial paralysis
Polio was first described in England in 1789, but spread throughout the globe. It was only a sporadic disease during the 18th and 19th century, but was still considred deadly. The first recorded case of polio in the United States occured in 1843.
During the turn of the century, the number of polio cases in the UK, Scandanavia, and North America began to rise. This increasing occruance of polio culminated in the polio epidemic in Denmark and in the US, both in 1952
1. Does polio always cause paralysis?
2. Table of Contents
3. Overview of the polio epidemic
4. What is polio?
5. Brief history of polio
6. Causes of the US epidemic
7. Reaction to outbreak
8. Preventation
9. Treatment
10 . Vaccine
11. Polio today
12. Long term significance of the polio epidemic
15. Quiz
16. Bibliography
Polio victims in India circa early 2000s. India is now a polio free country as of February 2012
Polio is virtually eradicated in the western hemisphere, but is still a serious problem in other parts of the world. In 1994, the US was officially declared polio-free. Europe, southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands soon followed. As of 2013, polio was only a problem in three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria.
However, 15 cases were reported in Syria over the past year, and it seems that the disease is beginning to spread to countries such as Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia--countries that were previously declared polio free.
In May of 2014, the World Health Organization stated that the return of polio was a global health emergency.
No
Overview
An Egyptian stele from 14 BC is thought to depict a polio victim.
2. What was the leading cause of the polio epidemic?
Vaccine
"Polio" is short for poliomyelitis, and is also called pronounced infantile paralysis. The virus attacks the nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord, usually resulting in paralysis.
Polio begins with symptoms such as fever, headache, sore throat, and vomiting. In mild polio, these disappear after about a day. However, in severe polio cases, these symptoms remain. With time, stiffness develops in the neck and back, muscles weaken, and movement becomes difficult.
Most people who develop polio do not experience total paralysis. Spinal poliomyelitis is the most common, and is diagnosed by partial or total paralysis of the arms, legs, and/or trunk. Bulbar poliomyelitis is the most deadly, and occurs when the virus attacks the brain stem. This results in difficulty breathing, swallowing, circulation, and muscles in the head and neck.
Closed swimming pools, confined children to their homes or yards, and told them not to play actively
March on Times Square for disabled rights circa 1960's. Polio victims greatly aided the disabled rights movement.
3. What were some of the methods used to care for polio patients?
4. What were some of the ways parents/government officials tried to limit the spread of polio?
The number of reported polio cases has significantly decreased since 1988, but is still a problem in certain parts of the world.
Rocking bed, iron lung, physical therapy, and hot water baths.
The sanitation movement in the early 1900s
A group of 1.3 million schoolchildren used as participants in a field test of Salk's vaccine
5. What were the Polio Pioneers?
The polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk beginning in 1952 with prelimary tests and ending in 1955 with the development of a functional vaccine.
In 1954, the Vaccine Advisory Comittee approved a "field test" of Salk's vaccine. About 1.3 million school-age children participated in a blind trial. Some were given the polio vaccine, while others were used as a control group and were given placebos with no effect. This group of children were given the name "Polio Pioneers." It took almost a year to analyze the results, but when analysis was complete, it revealed that Salk's vaccine was effective against polio 80-90% of the time.
The US government liscenced the vaccine and began distributing it across the country, essentially ending the polio epidemic.
The sanitation movement in the 1900s was a leading cause of the polio epidemic.
The vaccine essentially led to the end of the polio outbreak
The American Polio Epidemic of 1952 is exactly what it sounds like: a widespread outbreak of the polio virus. Although it was not serious most of the time, there were many cases where polio led to paralyzed limbs or even death. This led to widespread panic and fear of the disease. Many methods of care were developed, such as the iron lung, and forms of treatment, such as physical therapy, were created also. The epidemic ended in 1955 with the development of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine, but the outbreak continues to hold significance in the US today.
How did the US Outbreak start?
Long Term Impacts of the Polio Outbreak
Fundraising concepts used by the March of Dimes to raise money for the polio vaccine are still in use today.
The Polio Pioneers were a group of 1.3 million schoolchildren used as a trial for the polio vaccine.
Jonas Salk became a national hero after developing the polio vaccine.
The rocking bed was used to relieve patients of breathing troubles by using gravity to help with circulation.
This graph is a record of polio cases in Virginia. The number peaked at around 1950, although the most recorded cases in the US were in 1952.
The iron lung was a common form of care for polio patients incapable of breathing.
The polio virus attacks nerve cells, leading to possible paralysis.
Sister Kenny's treatment for polio in the 1950s led to the development of today's physical therapy.
Treatment
Polio treatment center circa 1950
Hot water baths were a typical form of care based on Sister Kenny's concept of using hot packs to relieve muscle spasms.
Many experts believe that sanitation was, ironically, one of the leading causes of the polio epidemic. During the early 1900s, there was a major public health and sanitation movement. Before the development of sanitary measurses, children contracted polio at a very young age and were then immune to it for the rest of their life. Better sanitary conditions meant that this contraction was put off. Now, older children and adults became infected, too, usually with devestating results.
The polio epidemic had many suprising impacts on US culture today.
Disabled polio survivors helped spur a disability rights movement throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This campaign for social and civil rights for the disabled resulted in
During the 1950s, the March of Dimes collected funds for polio vaccine development. The fundraising concepts developed through this program, such as door to door collecting and collection of spare change, are still in use today.
Sister Kenny utilized gentle movement of limbs to maintain muscle tone when treating polio. This concept became the basis of modern physical therapy today.
There was--and still is--no real treatment for polio. The best thing hospitals can do is to make the patient comfortable.
To offset the respiratory difficulties some faced, Cecil Drinker invented a device commonly called "the iron lung." This tool, which looked like a metal chamber, assisted the patient in breathing by changing the pressure to force air in and out of the lungs. Another device used for this purpose was the rocking bed, which tilted the patient up or down so gravity could assist with moving air in and out of the lungs.
To alleviate muscle spasms common in polio patients, doctors used rigid casts to immobilize the limbs. However, in 1940, Sister Elizabeth Kenny immagrated to the US from Australia. She introduced a new method of care in which hot pads were used to relieve spasms and an excersize program where nurses assisted patients in moving their limbs. This reduced the percentage of patients suffering from residual paralysis from 85% to 15%.
Sister Kenny's method of alleviating paralysis caused by polio: Nurses assist patients in a series of excersizes designed to retain muscle.
Widespread Panic
Sources
Polio was not the most prevalent disease in the US at this time, but it was the most feared. According to a poll conducted in 1954 concluded that more Americans knew about the polio vaccine tests than the name of the president. Many people who contracted polio faced either paralysis or death. This led to a widespread "panic" over the spread of the disease.
NFIP (National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis) director Dr. Van Riper discredited the notion that fruit, insects, animals, and bad genes caused polio, but the rumors continued.
Preventation
The NFIP distributed information stating that polio was easily transmitted in large crowds. Children were advised not to go to crowded places (such as the theater and beach). While swimming pools themselves did not cause polio, the many people in the pools, as well as the fatigue and chill after a day of swimming, could increase the risk of contracting the disease.
As a result of this information, many public pools were closed. Children were confined to their yards or inside their houses, and were advised against active playing, as it was believed that sweating could promote polio.
It was known that children were the ones to likely contract the disease. The fear of polio was so strong that some towns put up signs preventing under-sixteens from entering.
Children were told not to go crowded places and not to excersize, as it was believed that these encouraged the spread of polio.
Create your own polished presentation in minutes. Just describe what you need.
Free to try, no credit card required