Polio

[oldman]

Anyone watch the documentary about Polio on the Smithsonian Channel? Very interesting information, but one of the points to the film was that Polio is making a comeback, even in this country. It seems like Africa and India lead the world with new cases, but the U.S. is seeing more new cases each year. The narrator said that a lot of parents fear having their children inoculated because they may actually get the disease. What used to be the "Mother's March of Dimes" is now turning into the "Grandmother's March of Dimes." They showed all the dimes that were being collected and ending up on FDR's desk. There actually was almost a shortage on dimes in this country.

I never knew that Salk and Sabin had a bit of an inside rivalry going on with each one trying to be the first one to find the cure and also to show that their vaccine was better than the other. Of course, Salk's was dead bacteria and Sabin's was live, but weakened bacteria and because of this, people feared Sabin's more than Salk's. I remember having both. Three shots and a booster. I also had two or three oral doses of the Sabin vaccine that was administered on a sugar cube.

On the show were also survivors of the disease who spoke about how Polio affected their lives. All very interesting.

 

[rkunsaw]

The anti-vaxers are bringing back a lot of diseases that had all but been wiped out in this country.

 

[QuickSilver]

Yes... the blame belongs squarely on their shoulders... We will have to keep children inside and away from these nut jobs until we can get them vaccinated.. Next stop? SMALLPOX.

 

[d0ug]

All polio cases in the US are in vaccinated people and the out break in India started just after a large vaccine immunization campaign.

 

[Ameriscot]

Yes... the blame belongs squarely on their shoulders... We will have to keep children inside and away from these nut jobs until we can get them vaccinated.. Next stop? SMALLPOX.

Smallpox would be a disaster in the UK. Nobody got vaccinated as it was supposedly wiped out by the 50's. In the UK they got TB vaccinations as that was the big threat back then. So I had the smallpox vaccine, husband had the TB. When we were going to Uganda we were supposed to prove we had the TB vaccination which I couldn't. My doctor's office couldn't help, so I phoned around and was finally told that at my age (55) it wouldn't do me any good.

 

[QuickSilver]

Smallpox would be a disaster in the UK. Nobody got vaccinated as it was supposedly wiped out by the 50's. In the UK they got TB vaccinations as that was the big threat back then. So I had the smallpox vaccine, husband had the TB. When we were going to Uganda we were supposed to prove we had the TB vaccination which I couldn't. My doctor's office couldn't help, so I phoned around and was finally told that at my age (55) it wouldn't do me any good.

They stopped vaccinating for smallpox here in the early 70's My oldest son was vaccinated, my youngest wasn't.. None of my grandkids are.

 

[Ameriscot]

They stopped vaccinating for smallpox here in the early 70's My oldest son was vaccinated, my youngest wasn't.. None of my grandkids are.

My oldest son was born in 1971 and he didn't get vaccinated. I think they stopped vaccinating in the UK in the early 50's (?)

 

[QuickSilver]

My oldest son was born in 1971 and he didn't get vaccinated. I think they stopped vaccinating in the UK in the early 50's (?)

My oldest was born in 1969.. My youngest in 1972 so in between then, they stopped here.

 

[Ameriscot]

My oldest was born in 1969.. My youngest in 1972 so in between then, they stopped here.

Yes, I think they were usually given at a year old and when I asked the doctor about it - which would have been mid 72 - he chuckled and replied they don't do those any more, it's been eradicated. Don't know why he laughed. My youngest was born in 1973.

 

[Pappy]

Before the vaccine came out, we had 2 cases in our grade schools. One was a friend of mine. It was a time that parents, and children, were scared to death. Many parents kept their children home. Everyone feared the dreaded Iron Lung.

 

[Ameriscot]

Before the vaccine came out, we had 2 cases in our grade schools. One was a friend of mine. It was a time that parents, and children, were scared to death. Many parents kept their children home. Everyone feared the dreaded Iron Lung.

Are you referring to smallpox, Pappy?

 

[Josiah]

I remember in my childhood, knowing of and knowing personally many persons who were crippled by polio. Pictures of people in iron lungs were ubiquitous.

 

[Ameriscot]

Hmmm....just googled when the last smallpox vaccinations were given in the UK. I could swear when I checked before it was in the 1950's. But it was 1971, just like the US. Wonder why my husband didn't get one....

The article I found from 2002 said the UK had ordered lots of vaccines because they were worried about biological warfare by terrorists.

 

[Pam]

I was vaccinated against smallpox, as were my parents but not my sons who were born after 1971.

 

[QuickSilver]

I remember the Polio scare. I remember when the vaccine finally came out.. It was given on a sugar cube... at the local bank. Parents and kids were lined up around the block waiting to be vaccinated... such was the fear.. My mother was very worried.. particularly in the summer.. No public swimming pools or drinking fountains for me.

 

[QuickSilver]

All polio cases in the US are in vaccinated people and the out break in India started just after a large vaccine immunization campaign.

Because it wasn't polio..... but a "polio like" disease

http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/outbreaks/EV-D68-outbreaks.html

 

[Pappy]

Are you referring to smallpox, Pappy?

No Ma'am. This was Polio. Early 40s.
Like QS said, swimming pools were a no go. Crowds of any kind were avoided if at all possible. I'm pretty sure there was no defense against it.

 

[Ameriscot]

No Ma'am. This was Polio. Early 40s.
Like QS said, swimming pools were a no go. Crowds of any kind were avoided if at all possible. I'm pretty sure there was no defense against it.

Figured that out later. I had a neighbour who had polio as a child and she couldn't walk without crutches.

 

[QuickSilver]

I had several kids with leg braces in my class.

 

[AZ Jim]

No Ma'am. This was Polio. Early 40s.
Like QS said, swimming pools were a no go. Crowds of any kind were avoided if at all possible. I'm pretty sure there was no defense against it.

Pappy, is right it was the polio that brought on the Iron lung machines and avoidance of public pools etc.

 

[hollydolly]

Hmmm....just googled when the last smallpox vaccinations were given in the UK. I could swear when I checked before it was in the 1950's. But it was 1971, just like the US. Wonder why my husband didn't get one....

The article I found from 2002 said the UK had ordered lots of vaccines because they were worried about biological warfare by terrorists.

I got the TB vaccination in in '69 when I was at school the Polio one when I was just a tot but as far as I'm aware I didn't get the smallpox one

 

[AZ Jim]

I got shots for every disease known to man in the service (overseas shots marathon). All at one time...was sore for days.

 

[Pappy]

The Polio vaccine was started in 1955 according to Google. I actually thought it was sooner than this.

 

[QuickSilver]

I got the TB vaccination in in '69 when I was at school the Polio one when I was just a tot but as far as I'm aware I didn't get the smallpox one

We don't vaccinate for TB here in the States

http://vec.chop.edu/service/vaccine...ook-at-each-vaccine/tuberculosis-vaccine.html

 

[Mrs. Robinson]

The Polio vaccine was started in 1955 according to Google. I actually thought it was sooner than this.

1955 was actually the year that our neighbor,my best friend`s mom,contracted polio,so 1955 sounds right as the first year the vaccine being available. That`s the year I got my first polio shot-I was 5.