Andrew Suy Professor Owens History 1302 13 April 2016 Polio: An American Story Polio, formerly known as poliomyelitis, an infectious viral disease that affects the central nervous system and can cause temporary or permanent paralysis. A debilitating disease that was once the affliction of our very own republic. David Oshinsky’s Polio: An American Story chronicles polio’s progression in the United States, a feat it does quite well throughout the course of the novel. At first polio was a troubling prospect when it first reared its ugly head in the United States of America. In a noble effort to be rid of polio, America as a whole was to adopt stringent sanitation measures. Everywhere, especially the home was to be spotless and clean in order to try and prevent the contraction of polio. This coupled with the view that America as a western nation seemed impervious to such a lowly disease tried to assuage American fear of the disease. Despite the measures commonly adopted throughout the myriad of cities and towns, polio still managed to spread around the country and wreak havoc taking thousands of lives. An outbreak that ravaged America claimed nearly 27,000 lives in a terrible reckoning before it finally subsided. This and several other troubling outbreaks On April 12, 1945 Franklin Delano Roosevelt died via cerebral hemorrhage within his brain. With his death the disease that was polio became that much more real to those who once kept silent of its terribleness. FDR was the prime example of strength despite his battle with polio, his death brought the war against polio to the front door of those who donated amounts to the National Foundation. Funds then began to be diversified in the way that they were acquired, and so a massive advertising campaign began, polio became plastered all over the United States in an effort to raise awareness and of course draw in funds and
Throughout history, United-States citizens have elected several presidents, and each one of them are worth knowing for an event or an act in particular. There is an infinite amount of lessons that can be learned from other people’s mistakes, victories, and defeats. Theodore Roosevelt is one of the elected presidents, and he is worth knowing because he helped establish the Children's Aid Society, he facilitated the construction of the Panama Canal and he averted a national emergency by dealing with the 1902 coal strike. Roosevelt's had a profound impact on our society.
Moreover polio is a deadly disease that is caused by a highly contagious virus entering the nervous system in the brain or spinal cord causing temporary or permanent paralysis. There are three
Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Despite an attack of poliomyelitis, which paralyzed his legs in 1921, he was a charismatic optimist whose confidence helped sustain the American people during the strains of economic crisis and world war.
Researchers were unable to identify what caused Polio to spread. It seemed to be more common in cleaner environments, unlike other diseases. Polio was found more often in the middle class rather than the poor. One reason that the polio virus was so difficult to discover, was because it wasn’t a bacteria and because most microscopes couldn’t detect the microbial agent. Another problem that created difficulties for scientists, was that the researchers couldn’t discover how the virus got
The first discovery was made in 1952, in the developing field of virology. Virology is the study of viruses and how they behave. To develop the vaccines for the viruses, researchers infected the HeLa cells with many types of infections, such as measles, mumps, and the infamous poliomyelitis virus, also known as Polio. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose mission is to save lives and protect people’s health security, Polio is a "crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person invading the brain and spinal cord and causing paralysis" (Freeman). Jonas Salk, who was a virologist at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), used inactivated viruses (virus particles grown in culture and then killed by a form of heat) to create a polio vaccine. Salk drew blood from about two million children, which the NFIP checked for immunization.Through the collection of many HeLa cells and trial and error, the polio vaccine wa...
We see family, the history of the disease, development of medicine and society, and intimate reflections of President Roosevelt (as a person). Whether or not one has dealt with a debilitating disease such as polio, this book provides us an essence of strength, learning to overcoming trials, along with understanding.
From the Chelsea Naval Hospital, overlooking the Boston Bay, I sip on a cup of Joe and browse over the Sports Section of the Los Angeles Times. Earlier this month, three Bostonians dropped dead from influenza. In examining the extent of the epidemic, Surgeon-General Blue commented to the Times , "People are stricken on the streets, while at work in factories, shipyards, offices or elsewhere. First there is a chill, then fever with temperature from 101 to 103, headache, backache, reddening and running of the eyes, pains and aches all over the body, and general prostration." I gaze out my window, the sun seems brighter than usual and the town more radiant. It must be the victory, for the threat of death due to influenza is pervasive. Outside, children jump rope. With every skip of the jump rope they chant. "I had a little bird." Skip. "Its name was Enza." Skip. "I opened up the window." Skip. "And in-flu-enza."
One of the other notable important advances was the “Conquest of Polio” this disease usually caused paralysis in the people who contracted the virus. Back then there...
Our society has consisted of a great number of presidents who have changed the United States by helping our economy, but the one I feel who had the most influence was Franklin D. Roosevelt. F.D.R. was the 32nd president of the United States and remained in office for twelve years. He was born on January 30, 1882, at the family estate in Hyde Park, New York. His early education was by governesses and tutors, which caused him to have little contact with children his age. F.D.R. traveled frequently to Europe with his parents, lived in New York City during the winter months, and spent summers at their home on the Canadian Island of Campobello. At the age of 14, he attended a boarding school. Between 1900-1904, F.D.R. attended Harvard and attained a degree in business. While at Harvard, he fell in love with his 2nd cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt and got married in 1905. He then attended law school at Columbia, until he quit in the spring of 1907. However, he later passed the New York state bar examination and took a job at a prominent Wall Street law firm. For the first time in his life he came into contact with attorneys who represented the working poor. By 1910, he was 28 years old and beginning to feel very restless in his life. He then...
In the United States there was a vicious enemy everyone feared. In the 1950s the United States was under attack by the ruthless Poliomyelitis virus. Americans lived in constant fear of their children contracting this horrible virus that left many children paralyzed. During the outbreaks in the 1950s foundations were created to fund research and create awareness to help find a way to eradicate the virus. Americans become focused on doing anything in their power to fight this virus off. Jonas Salk’s Exploration of Medicine and research led to the creation of the Polio vaccine that united the country, prevented further outbreaks, and introduced a new form of treatment which has limited the fatality of polio infections today.
Today FDR is not known for his polio disability, he is known as a previous amazing leader of this country. His disability was a characteristic of his persona it did not define him.
Poliomyelitis was declared an epidemic in the early 1950s in the United States. It caused primarily children and young adults to develop paralysis, led to social stigma around being crippled. To this day there is still no cure for this disease, poliomyelitis can only be prevented with vaccination.
Polio is a viral disease. It cripples thousands of people and infects even more every year. Even though millions are inoculated, and the polio disease has been successfully purged from hundreds of countries still thousands of people and developing countries are infected and still people are dying. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) polio affects the Central Nervous System, or CNS; by infesting the intestines and transmitting it into the nerves thought the blood vessels. There the virus spreads through the nerve cells to the brain stem or other motor units, while forever damaging the nerves.
Envision a life consumed by grayness and misfortune, slowly weakening the body from the inside with no proof of existence other than symptoms of a common cold. Dwindling away as skin begins to cling to bone, this monster, formally addressed as the Poliomyelitis (Polio) disease, finds its way to the nerves of the body as well as the grey areas of the spinal cord, leaving its host with dreadful affects throughout the body.Since its discovery in 1905, Polio has caused several epidemics throughout the years leaving many permanently paralyzed or even dead. Thankfully, scientists created the polio vaccination which lead to the nearly complete eradication of this disease. However, In order to ensure this disease does not spread as it once did before, people must come to understand Polio’s etiology, history and modern day epidemiology, as well as its proper response to treatment.
For innumerable centuries, unrelenting strains of disease have ravaged society. From the polio epidemic in the twentieth century to the measles cases in the latter half of the century, such an adverse component of nature has taken the lives of many. In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox could foster immunity against smallpox; through injecting the cowpox into another person’s arm, he founded the revolutionary concept known as a vaccination. While many attribute the eradication of various diseases to vaccines, many United States citizens are progressively beginning to oppose them. Many deludedly thought that Measles had been completely terminated throughout the United States; however, many children have been patronized by