Friday, February 7, 2025

Flashback: When Polio Killed

 I came upon a Facebook post recently questioning how many people died from polio.  Actually, it asked (in a rhetorical manner not designed for a response) if polio actually killed anyone as the person justified a stance against vaccines (not the C-19 one, all of them).  Fortunately, JJ is more than happy to answer that question. The polio virus killed 641 people in Mississippi, many of them children.  

Yours truly asked the Mississippi State Department of Health for the annual deaths due to polio from 1920 to 1970.  MSDH provided the records.  The annual deaths were:   

1920: 17 
1921: 17 
1922: 16 
1923: 14 
1924: 17 
1925: 25 
1926: 27 
1927: 20 
1928: 21 
1929: 15 
1930: 13 
1931: 15 
1932: 24 
1933: 10 
1934: 20 
1935: 10 
1936: 21 
1937: 59
1938: 22 
1939: 16 
1940: 14 
1941: 19 
1942: 11 
1943: 11 
1944: 6 
1945: 10 
1946: 14 
1947: 3 
1948: 6 
1949: 8 
1950: 14 
1951: 41
1952: 28 
1953: 10 
1954: 16 
1955: 6 
1956: 12 
1957: 3 
1958: 1 
1959: 9 
1960: 4 
1961: 4 
1962: 0 
1963: 4 
1964: 1 
1965: 0 
1966: 0 
1967: 1 
1968: 0 
1969: 0 
1970: 0

641 deaths.  That's more than a couple.   Newspaper articles at the time provide a window into the terror caused by polio.  

Clarion-Ledger September 1, 1937


Clarion-Ledger September 23, 1941



Clarion-Ledger August 13, 1955


Clarion-Ledger August 23, 1941




Clarion-Ledger August 19, 1945



Clarion-Ledger, August 5, 1946



Clarion-Ledger May, 1955

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.

Polio has afflicted humans since ancient times, but it wasn't until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that it became a widespread epidemic, particularly in industrialized nations. The sudden appearance of polio epidemics in the last century or two is actually a bit of a paradox, as it's linked to improvements in hygiene. Here's how it happened:

The Paradox of Hygiene:

Early Childhood Exposure: In less hygienic environments, infants were exposed to poliovirus at a very young age, while they still had maternal antibodies providing protection. This early exposure often led to mild or asymptomatic infections, building immunity without causing severe illness.
Improved Hygiene, Reduced Exposure: As sanitation and hygiene improved in industrialized countries, the chances of early childhood exposure decreased. This meant more children were reaching an age where they were susceptible to the more severe, paralytic form of polio.

Anonymous said...

10:19, that sounds like something an anti-vaxxer would come up with. And it is BS. Polio became widespread as we became urbanized in cities....something that has accelerated to this day.

Anonymous said...

If you want to do some more interesting medical research, look into how many people (including children) died from the early polio vaccines. Americans put up with the numbers because polio was so deadly and so random, but you might be surprised at the numbers. After a few years of literally using the general population as a guinea pig the came up with a version that was very safe by the late 1950's and is still in use today. If you tried to do a "new" polio vaccine today with the internet I cannot imagine the outcry!

Anonymous said...

I always heard the vaccine was worse or caused more harm than the disease itself.

Anonymous said...

I recently ran across a report that I was surprised I had not heard before, and that seems little known.

When Salk's first vaccine was first released to the public the first batch as sent to Louisiana where he and his family were from. Due to public interest a relative (can't remember if it was his daughter or granddaughter) was scheduled to receive one of the first doses.

The vaccine was shipped in concentrated vials containing enough live viral particles to supply enough live particles AFTER BEING DILUTED to handle the the needs of the state. Someone (not named) did not understand that and drew up the volume of liquid that was supposed to be given to each patient (i.e., a diluted sample) and gave her that volume of the concentrated solution from the "stock bottle". Within hours she developed symptoms, was hospitalized, became paralyzed and was dead about 8 days later.

Incidents like this are why routine procedures get double- and triple-checked in hospitals and doctors offices today.

Anonymous said...

Sheeeit I thought this was going to be another thread about Polo and Shadow Robinson

Anonymous said...

A very dear friend of mine had polio as a child. It affected his leg his entire life. He was a wonderful person. And polio is a horrible horrible disease. Thank God we have vaccine for it now.

Anonymous said...

Now let us add some context to these numbers. How many people died from Flu? Car crashes? Murder? Neurosis? Female Hysteria?

Anonymous said...

Just wait until the anti vaxxers go for the tetanus vaccine.

Anonymous said...

It crippled many more. I know a lady living now that has been severely affected most of her life.

Anonymous said...

I am 81 years old and I had polio as a baby. I was lucky and did not have paralysis; however, my mother got Bulba Polio at age 25 and had to be put in an iron lung and died within 3 weeks. I was one of the first children to get the vaccine. POLIO IS REAL!!

Dan Hise said...

I didn't read 10:19 as anti-vaccines. It explained how polio became a massive killer. I assume that anyone who was young in the 40s and 50s, as I was, can clearly remember mandatory rest periods during the day and the frequent photos in the media of polio patients in iron lungs--for life. I've been vaccinated every which way, and no one is more grateful than I am for vaccines.

Dick Gregory, a wonderful Black comedian, turned a corner at some point and became an anti-vaxxer. His focus was on what he saw as the reason most people were vaccinated in their left arm: there was a conspiracy to kill Black women. If your jaw dropped, he would explain that there must be some reason so many Black women died of breast cancer originating in their left breasts!

Get your shots, folks. Please.

Anonymous said...

KF your comments are as petty and passive-agressive as a post-menopausal femenist.

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry you and your family went through this.

Anonymous said...

In European and American societies of the early and mid-19th century, infant mortality rates were 30- to 60-fold higher than the current rates of five or six deaths per 1,000 live births per year.

So, up to 360 died out of 1000 babies, as opposed to 6. Got it? You want to "build up the immune system" that way?

Second, just as many died in the 20s as in the 40s and 50s of polio..

Women old enough to remember family histories of only say 3 kids out of 10 making it to 15 years of age lauded vaccines and antibiotics as the greatest inventions of the 20th century.

Go to any 19th century graveyard and witness all the little angels, big shots.

Wanna chug raw milk like heroin addict RFK? The U.S. infant mortality rate dropped from 125.1 per thousand in 1891 to 15.8 in 1925. Straus directly saved an estimated 445,800 children's lives, and his crusade for mandatory pasteurization indirectly saved millions more lives.

Some people calling themselves skeptics are ignorant. Others are just sick in the head and heartless. Pick your side.

PS It wasn't Salk who lost a kid. It was Alton Ochsner of NOLA, who is a legend down there. That was Cutter vaccine, produced by a inexperienced company. But, oh yeah, let's lay off experienced FDA folks and see what happens, right. Cutter oversight was ignored. And, we got LESS safe Sabin vaccine as a result, or otherwise those deaths after 1955 or so would be near zero. Sabin and Salk were bitter enemies.

I grew up knowing several men with paralyzed limbs from childhood polio. It was more feared that atomic warfare.

And, finally, some people are NUTS. And now a NUTJOB is the head of HHS. Great idea. Great, great idea. We have the bimbo nutrition 'influencers' all fired up to take a smoothie instead of chemo and snakeoil salesmen lined up like the 20s to sell BS to our ignant neighbors. What could happen?

Anonymous said...

Well, @6:45, when you put it like that, I for one am convinced: stay the hell away from any propagandized vaccine manufactured by for-profit corporations under the blessing of career government bureaucrats who work only to serve We, the People because they care so very deeply about us. You’re a legend.

Anonymous said...

A new measles outbreak in West Texas.

Six cases among the unvaccinated in Gaines County Texas.

Gaines County TX has the highest rate of vaccine exemption for school children, nearly 1 in 5.

Outbreak already spreading to other TX counties.

So much winning you



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