Summary
Highlights
The summer of 1950 brought a severe polio outbreak to Wytheville, Virginia. Residents experienced sudden onset of symptoms like high fever, nausea, headaches, and paralysis. The town was gripped by fear, with families burning belongings to prevent spread and people avoiding contact. The continuous flow of ambulances indicated the severity of the situation. This outbreak highlighted the town's helplessness against the unknown disease.
Polio, or infantile paralysis, was highly contagious, striking every summer. Its symptoms ranged from mild to severe paralysis or even death, with unpredictable outcomes. Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracting polio in 1921 brought significant attention to the disease. He later established the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation for rehabilitation and appointed Basil O'Connor to lead the fight against polio.
Facing financial difficulties, Basil O'Connor launched the 'March of Dimes' in 1938, asking the public to donate dimes. This radical fundraising approach, seeking small donations from millions, was a massive success, raising $1.8 million and establishing a robust network. The campaign's message shifted from help to fear, warning that polio could strike anyone, anytime, which led to widespread public participation despite the disease's relative uncommonness.
Larry Becker, a 13-year-old, contracted polio, leading to delirium, extreme muscle soreness, and paralysis in his legs, neck, and eventually his biceps. His parents were given little hope for his survival. His personal battle illustrates the devastating physical and psychological toll of the disease, including the fear of loss of control rather than death.
The fear of polio was profound, influencing daily life in communities like Wytheville. People undertook extreme measures, including using pesticides like DDT and isolating themselves, driven by a lack of understanding about the disease's transmission. This period marked a time when fear often overshadowed common sense, leading to social isolation and blame.
In 1951, Basil O'Connor collaborated with Jonas Salk, a driven researcher focused on developing a killed virus vaccine, a controversial approach at the time. Despite skepticism from the scientific community, particularly from Albert Sabin who championed a live virus vaccine, Salk's work, heavily funded by the March of Dimes, progressed rapidly, showing promising results in monkeys.
Salk proceeded with human trials, injecting children in institutions, and eventually his own family, without causing polio. He observed elevated antibody levels, indicating a potential breakthrough. Concurrently, the 1952 epidemic was America's worst, overwhelming hospitals with patients needing iron lungs—machines that helped them breathe. These devices, while life-saving, inflicted a new kind of suffering through isolation and loss of bodily control, as experienced by people like Larry Becker's mother.
In 1953, O'Connor announced a massive field trial of Salk's vaccine, involving thousands of children. Despite strong objections and warnings from Albert Sabin about its safety and efficacy, the trials proceeded. On April 26, 1954, Randy Kerr became the first child to receive Salk's vaccine in what would become the largest human experiment in American history, eagerly anticipated by a public desperate for a solution.
On April 12, 1955, the March of Dimes announced Salk's vaccine was a success, leading to widespread euphoria. However, less than a month later, the vaccination program was halted due to the 'Cutter Incident,' where a batch of vaccine produced by Cutter Laboratories contained live polio virus, causing sickness, paralysis, and deaths. This led to a crisis of confidence but also prompted important reforms in vaccine manufacturing and government regulation.
Despite the Cutter incident, public faith in the vaccine ultimately led to the resumption of inoculations. Combined with Albert Sabin's oral live virus vaccine introduced in 1962, polio cases significantly decreased, making it largely a disease of the past. By 1994, polio was declared eradicated in the United States, a testament to decades of scientific effort and public support, though for individuals like Catherine Black and Larry Becker, the personal battles with the disease and its aftermath continued to shape their lives.