Polio was, until recently, a disease that had been largely wiped out. There's been a resurgence of polio in countries like Syria, Pakistan, and Cameroon. So, how was polio eradicated the first time? It's a story that involves as much politics as science.
From WGBH's Innovation Hub blog.
In the years after WWII, America had two great fears: communism, and polio. In 1952 alone, over 58,000 Americans had been infected by the disease (polio, that is...not communism.) In response, the nation sprung into action to attack the problem, treating it like a full-fledged war. As historian Jane Smith described it: “People worked on the polio vaccine like it was the Normandy invasion.”
Read more about how the polio vaccine was developed here .
