Essay | Poliomyelitis in the Twentieth Century and Beyond

During the year of 1921, there was an epidemic of poliomyelitis, also know as polio, that had started to make its way through America. Poliomyelitis is a crippling disease, which can strike quickly and lead to a painful death. During the summer of 1921, former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted the virus. In the Presidents case, he had a paralytic form of polio. From then until 1954, polio became a tremendous fear across America. In 1954, Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for the disease, and began his first human trails with his vaccine. By 1956, Dr. Albert Sabin created an oral version of the vaccine and mass production began. If it were not for this vaccine, many children would be infected with this virus each year.

The virus mostly infects children, but lately there have been some cases where the elderly have contracted the plague. There are three immunologic...
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