The History Of Polio

.1789-British physician Micheal Underwood provides the first clinical description of polio, referring to it as "debility of the lower extremities."


1894 - The first major polio epidemic reported in the United States occurs in Vermont, consisting of 132 total cases, including some adults.


1908 - Polio becomes a a reportable disease entity as Austrian physicians Karl Landsteiner and E. Popper identify the polio virus.


1916 - There is a large outbreak of polio in the United States. Though the total number of affected individuals is unknown, over 9000 cases are reported in New York City alone.


1921 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) contracts polio and is left with severe paralysis.


1932 - FDR is elected president of the United States. The first and only U. S. president to use a wheelchair, he successfully hides the extent of his disability from the American public throughout his presidency.


1934-There is a major outbreak of polio in Los Angeles. Nearly 2500 polio cases are treated from May through November of that year at Los Angeles County General Hospital alone.


1937 - FDR announces the creation of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.


1994 - China launches its first National Immunization Days, immunizing 80 million children! The entire Western Hemisphere is certified as "polio free."


2001 - 575 children vaccinated in 94 countries.