Experiencing The Polio Epidemic :: Disease History Historical Essays

Experiencing The acute anterior poliomyelitis Epidemic It was in the middle of September the height of spend and the temperature was someplace in the high eighties, and under normal circumstances there would be a long line of tidy sum, especially kids waiting to dive into the coarse indoor pool at the Mission Beach Plunge. However, these were not general times, the only people anywhere near the pool were there to forlornly gaze at the crystal clear water and wonder what fiendishly monster might be lurking in its depth. It was in the middle of the summer of 1952, and it was in the middle of the polio epidemic that would strike more than 60,000 people and kill more than 3,000 of them in the United States al genius.1As a schoolgirlish boy I did not know what fetchd the paralyzing epidemic, in fact I am sure the adults did not know the cause either. But, we had been told to stay onward from swimming pools and drinking fountains because it seemed that anyone who did not heed t he warning was sure to rise down with the deadly disease. At school and in stores there were posters of children and young adults on crutches with heavy metal braces wrapped around their disgrace legs. Next to these posters, an organization called the March of Dimes placed a clear flexible canister for people to put money in for finding a cure for the deadly illness. Fear and guilt seemed to hang in the atmosphere, because although no one knew what caused the virus, everyone seemed to feel it was something they did that caused them to get sick. Parents especially, felt guilty because they were overwhelmed with the unknown, and the thought of one of their children becoming paralyzed or worse, dying, always led to almost chance(a) admonitions to stay away from the drinking fountains and away from pools where groups of strangers swam. There seemed to be a general consensus that the disease was water borne. Waking up with flu analogous symptoms such as a mild upper respiratory infection, diarrhea, fever, naked as a jaybird throat or just generally not feeling well, would cause instant repair. My brothers and sisters and I inherited our fathers sinus problems and allergies and we regularly had some quality of symptom of an oncoming cold or flu. Even knowing we had genetical respiratory problems, my mother would fall into a deep silence of concern whenever we showed signs of not feeling well.