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Small Steps: The Year I g ot Polio

Small Steps: The Year I g ot Polio. By: Peg Kehret. Polio: What it is Poliomyelitis or Infantile Paralysis. A viral, infectious disease that usually affects children Highly contagious, it spreads easily through human contact

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Small Steps: The Year I g ot Polio

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  1. Small Steps: The Year I got Polio By: Peg Kehret

  2. Polio: What it isPoliomyelitis or Infantile Paralysis • A viral, infectious disease that usually affects children • Highly contagious, it spreads easily through human contact • Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and pain in the limbs • Polio attacks the central nervous system of the body. It travels on nerve fibers and destroys nerve cells, which control your muscles. This leads to paralysis: sometimes it’s temporary, sometimes it’s permanent

  3. Historical Background • Epidemics of polio occurred all over the world; but it wasn’t recognized as a distinct condition until 1840 • It was one of the most dreaded childhood diseases of the 20th century • In 1950s, at the height of the polio epidemic, over 60,000 cases were diagnosed, and 3,000 deaths were from polio in the U.S. alone

  4. A family at Christmas during the 1940’s –the child on the left suffers from polio

  5. FDR "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" • Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was president of the U.S. from 1933 to his death in 1945 • In 1921, at the age of 39, FDR became ill with polio. The disease left him unable to walk without the use of a cane or a wheelchair • The public rarely ever saw FDR in a weakened state. He was careful to present himself strong, standing, and independent whenever he gave a speech or was in public • He became a champion for people with disabilities; creating programs for the handicapped and starting charities to help other polio victims

  6. FDR

  7. Vaccines • The March of Dimes, an organization founded with the help of FDR, funded much of the research done on polio • They found that bad sanitation and hygiene spreads polio. Children are at a higher risk because they have not developed the antibodies to fight it off • Dr. Jonas Salk researched polio and developed a vaccine in 1955. It was not completely successful though until 1963, when Dr. Albert Sabin improved it • Because of the success of the vaccination, polio has been eradicated from most countries in the world. It may soon be the 2nd disease to be completed eradicated by a vaccination

  8. Albert Sabin (left) and Jonas Salk (center) meeting with Basil O’Connor of the March of Dimes in 1961Also, vaccination given to children (on top a sugar cube!)

  9. Polio poster to raise awareness

  10. The Iron Lung • By definition the iron lung is "an airtight metal tank that encloses all of the body except the head and forces the lungs to inhale and exhale through regulated changes in air pressure.“ • Developed in 1927, an iron lung cost about $1,500—the average price of a home. • In 1959, there were 1,200 people using tank respirators in the United States; in 2004, there were 39.

  11. Iron lungs-not real but used on a hollywood set Missing tubes and wires to make them work

  12. Peg Kehret

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