In another forum I'm involved in, the topic of a particular thread is about Ebola. I brought up the Polio scourge and ultimate cure in the'50s by
Jonas Salk
Quote:
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Until 1957, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered the most frightening public health problem of the post-war United States. Annual epidemics were increasingly devastating. The 1952 epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis, with most of its victims being children. The "public reaction was to a plague," said historian Bill O'Neal. "Citizens of urban areas were to be terrified every summer when this frightful visitor returned." According to a 2009 PBS documentary, "Apart from the atomic bomb, America's greatest fear was polio."
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I went looking for an old photo of a March of Dimes store counter donation card display from the 50's or 60's where you put a dime in the card's coin depression but I can't seem to find one.
