This well-grounded account documents the quest for a polio vaccine. It reveals professional rivalries and clinical breakthroughs, describes a new era in approaches to public philanthropy, and re-creates the tenor of American culture during the 1940s and ’50s, when every city, suburb, and rural community faced potential tragedy from annual outbreaks of the disease.

The decades-long contentious relationship between doctors Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk provides the centerpiece of this story. Virologists were split into two main camps: those pursuing the development of an attenuated live-virus vaccine versus those focusing on a killed-virus vaccine, with adherents of the latter believing it would prove not only safer and more effective, but also quicker and cheaper to mass produce. Historical context is provided by detailing how Franklin D. Roosevelt raised public awareness, how his influence led to the emergence of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and the March of Dimes, and the subsequent creation of the poster child concept as a way of creating grassroots fundraising.

The writing dramatically captures both tensions and ethical dimensions inherent in moving from laboratory work with monkeys to human experimentation and, eventually, to implementation of a massive inoculation program reaching 1.3 million schoolchildren in the 1954 Salk vaccine trials. While this part of the story and the public adulation of Salk have been told elsewhere, Oshinsky amplifies the tale with data explaining why the Sabin oral vaccine became the one preeminently adopted internationally, and why the debate has continued. Sixteen pages of arresting black-and-white photographs are included.

Buy This Book!

You can get more articles from Medical Symptoms Guide - Compilation of signs and symptoms, illness, disease, prevention and treatment

A polio victim and her 13-year-old daughter work miracles from their Tupelo, Miss., home during the summer of 1964 in Berg’s latest carefully calibrated domestic drama (after The Year of Pleasures). Having contracted polio at 22 while pregnant, Paige Dunn delivers her baby from an iron lung, and ends up raising her daughter, Diana, alone after her husband divorces her. Able to move only her head, Paige requires round-the-clock nursing care that social services barely cover. Now 13, Diana has taken over the night shift to save them money, sharing her mother’s care with no-nonsense African-American day worker Peacie, who is protective of Paige and unforgiving of Diana’s adolescent yearning for freedom. Paige is a paragon of kindness and wisdom, even in the face of less-than-charitable charity by petty small-town residents, while Diana and Peacie consistently lock horns. But when Peacie’s boyfriend, LaRue, ventures down the perilous path of helping register black voters during this Freedom Summer and trouble follows him, Diana will gain compassion thanks to her mother’s selfless aid to LaRue and Peacie. As the novel (based on a true story) is set in Tupelo, the specter of Elvis Presley naturally intrudes, for an over-the-top, heartrending finale.

Buy This Book!

You can get more articles from Medical Symptoms Guide - Compilation of signs and symptoms, illness, disease, prevention and treatment

What is polio (poliomyelitis)?

Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus invades the nervous system and causes paralysis.

What are the symptoms of this disease?

The disease manifestation can range from asymptomatic infection to severe paralysis. About 90 to 95% of all polio patients do not show symptoms. Another 4-8% experience symptoms such as fever, headache, sore throat and loss of appetite. Paralysis occurs in less than 1% of infections.

Three forms of paralytic polio may be seen:
a) Spinal paralytic polioPatients would first experience “minor” illness with symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and stiff neck/back. This lasts for 1-3 days and is followed by a symptom-free period of 1-5 days before onset of paralysis. Paralysis varies from single muscle involvement to affliction of all 4 limbs. Despite the paralysis, there is no accompanying sensory loss.

b) Bulbar paralytic polio (5 – 35% of paralytic cases of polio)

This causes paralysis of the soft palate, pharynx and larynx resulting in difficulty in swallowing and breathing.

c) Polioencephalitis (uncommon, occurs mainly in infants)

This manifests as confusion, sensory changes and seizures.
How long is the incubation period and how is it transmitted?

The incubation period lasts between 7 to 14 days and the patient is infectious a few days before and after the onset of the disease. The disease is spread mainly via the faeco-oral route (Faeco-oral route means that the organisms are transmitted via faeces of one host to the mouth of another) or less commonly through respiratory droplet transmission.
What is the treatment for polio?

There is no specific therapy for polio. Management is supportive and symptomatic.
What are the laboratory tests for polio?

Poliovirus can usually be isolated from the throat swab in the first week of illness. Stool cultures for the virus may remain positive for several weeks. The diagnosis may also be confirmed by detecting a four fold increase in the level of antibodies to polio.
Is there a vaccine available? Who should be vaccinated?

Two types of vaccine are available, an injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and an oral live, attenuated vaccine (OPV).

The primary course is given at 3, 4 and 5 months while boosters are given at 18 months, 6+ years and 11+ years.

Adults should be sure that they have received at least three doses of polio vaccine in the past. If this is not the case, “catch-up” immunization should be arranged with your doctor.

Booster dose of the polio vaccine is recommended for adults who have had at least 3 doses of the polio vaccine only if they are at risk of poliomyelitis.

These include:

• Travelers to areas where polio is present
• Healthcare workers in possible contact with persons with poliomyelitis
• Laboratory workers who may handle the polio virus

What precautions should I take if I am going to an area where polio is present?

You should ensure that you have been immunized against polio prior to your travel. In addition, you should continue to observe good personal and food hygiene practices.
I have just returned from an area where polio is present. How can I tell if I may have contracted the disease?

If you develop symptoms of fever, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and stiff neck/back within 2 weeks of your return, please see your doctor immediately and inform him or her of your travel history.

Related Info Polio : An American Story We Are All Welcome Here : A Novel

You can get more articles from Medical Symptoms Guide - Compilation of signs and symptoms, illness, disease, prevention and treatment