Polio - infantile paralysis -was until recently a greatly feared disease, but is now preventable by a vaccine, which has largely eradicated it from the Western Hemisphere; a global eradication campaign is underway. This book tells the storyof polio in fascinating and personal detail, through a series of essays written by those who experienced the disease: its victims, those who cared for them, and those who worked to eliminate it altogether.
The opening chapter recounts the history of polio from its earliest depiction in Egyptian art to the present day; it is followed by accounts of the experiences of patients who were paralysed in youth by polio, but went on to build successful lives. The challenges of caring for polio sufferers are described by two physicians who worked on polio wards at the height of the epidemic. The story of the cultivation of poliovirus and the testing of the vaccines is related by two research scientists from the laboratories where the breakthroughs were achieved. The final essays describe the public health vaccination campaigns which successfully eradicated polio from the Americas, as experienced by those who directed them.
Dr THOMAS M. DANIELis Professor Emeritus of Medicine and International Health and Director of the Center for International Health at Case Western Reserve University; Dr FREDERICK C. ROBBINSis University Professor and Dean Emeritus of the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Contributors: THOMAS M. DANIEL, FREDERICK C. ROBBINS, MICHAEL W.R. DAVIS, ANN L. MCLAUGHLIN, RUTH E. FRISCHER, ROBERT M. EIBEN, MARTHA LIPSON LEPOW, JOO BAPTISTA RISI, JR, CIRO A. DE QUADROS