— 2,449 US PHS. Public Health Bulletin No. 91, July, 1918. p. 62.*

— 1,666 Blanchard tabulation of State and DC totals below from US PH&MHS.^[1]

— 1,459 US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19 Apr 1912, 549-550.^[2]

— 1,459 US Bureau of the Census. “Causes of Death,” Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

*2,449 is from column titled “Deaths from poliomyelitis, estimated.” A column in same table, titled “Registration area. Deaths from poliomyelitis” shows 1,459. See narrative below for description of “registration area.”

Breakout of Fatalities by State

— 3 Alabama US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 29 California US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 4 Colorado US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 40 Connecticut US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 3 Delaware, Wilmington. USPHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 1 Hawaii US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 6 Idaho US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 42 Illinois US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

–23 Chicago US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

— 49 Indiana US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

–161 Iowa US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 47 Kansas US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 1 Kentucky, Louisville. US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

— 2 Louisiana, New Orleans. US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

— 31 Maine US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 35 Maryland US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

–122 Massachusetts. US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 48 Michigan US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 97 Minnesota US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 18 Mississippi US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 18 Missouri US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

–10 Kansas City. US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

— 2 St. Joseph. US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

— 6 St. Louis. US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

— 17 Montana US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 4 Nebraska US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

–1 Lincoln US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

–3 Omaha US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

— 19 New Hampshire US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 50 New Jersey US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

–170 New York US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 3 North Carolina US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 549.

— 5 North Dakota US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 550.

— 76 Ohio US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 550.

— 12 Oklahoma US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 550.

— 35 Oregon US PHS. Public Health Bulletin No. 91, July, 1918. p. 62.[3]

–24 Oregon US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 550.

–19 Portland US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

–269 Pennsylvania US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 550.

— 44 Rhode Island US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 550.

— 10 South Carolina US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19Apr1912, 550.

— 17 South Dakota US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19 Apr 1912, 550.

— 1 Tennessee, Memphis US Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913, p. 53.

— 7 Utah US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19 Apr 1912, 550.

— 10 Vermont. Caverly. p.50; USPHS. Pub. Health Rpts. 27/16, 4-19-1912, 548, 550.

–? Barton. Caverly. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in 1911,” 1924, p.56.^[4]

–1 Brattleboro, Sep. Caverly. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in 1910.” P. 48.

–? Burlington. Caverly. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in 1911,” 1924, p. 56.

–1 Irasburg, Sep 16. Caverly. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in 1910.” P. 48.

–? Montpelier. Caverly. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in 1911,” 1924, p. 56.

–? Rutland. Caverly. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in 1911,” 1924, p. 56.

–? Windsor. Caverly. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in 1911,” 1924, p. 56.

— 15 Virginia US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19 Apr 1912, 550.

— 81 Washington US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19 Apr 1912, 550.

— 21 Wash., DC US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19 Apr 1912, 550.

— 43 Wisconsin US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 19 Apr 1912, 550.

Narrative Information — General

Bureau of the Census on “Extent of the Registration Area: 1910.” In the statistics of deaths presented in the bulletin and annual registration report are included only deaths returned from the portion of the United States known as the ‘registration area.’ This area comprises certain states in which the registration laws are of suitable character and are sufficiently well enforced to insure at least approximately complete returns. It includes also certain cities in nonregistration states in which deaths are registered under effective local ordinances.

“Returns of deaths for the year 1910, as compiled in the present report, were received from the following states:

California Montana Ohio

Colorado New Hampshire Pennsylvania

Connecticut New Jersey Rhode Island

Indiana New York Utah

Maine North Carolina (mu- Vermont

Maryland Municipalities of 1,000 Washington

Massachusetts population or over Wisconsin

Minnesota in 1900).

“In addition, returns were received as heretofore from the District of Columbia (city of Washington), which is included as a state in the group designated ‘registration states,’ but otherwise is treated as a city. The registration area comprised also the following 43 cities in nonregistration states:

Alabama: Kansas: South Carolina:

Birmingham Kansas City Charleston

Mobile Leavenworth Tennessee:

Montgomery Wichita Knoxville

Delaware: Kentucky: Memphis

Wilmington Covington Nashville

Florida: Louisville Texas:

Jacksonville Newport Galveston

Key West Paducah San Antonio

Georgia: Louisiana: Virginia:

Atlanta New Orleans Alexandria

Savannah Missouri: Danville

Illinois: Kanas City Lynchburg

Aurora St. Joseph Norfolk

Belleville St. Louis Petersburg

Chicago Nebraska: Richmond

Decatur Lincoln West Virginia:

Evanston Omaha Wheeling

Jacksonville Oregon:

Quincy Portland

Springfield

“The returns from North Carolina re of peculiar interest because they represent what may prove to be the beginning of effective state registration in the South….” [p. 10.]

Bureau of the Census on Polio: “The number of deaths from acute anterior poliomyelitis, of ‘poliomyelitis,’ as it is now familiarly called, in the registration area in 1910 was 1,459, as compared with 569 in the preceding year, the first in which the disease was segregated from the other diseases of the spinal cord (International title No. 63). The death rates for 1910 and 1909 were 2.7 and 1.1, respectively. Although causing only a small number of deaths, the disease is of much interest and a source of considerable alarm to the public…. [p. 53.]

“In 1910 the largest number of deaths was registered for the month of September (310), while in 1909 the month of maximum mortality from this cause was October. The deaths of males exceeded those of females in both years, but in a somewhat larger proportion for the year 1909. The number of decedents under 5 years of age (898) formed only 61.5 per cent of the total in 1910, as compared with 71 per cent in 1909. In the proportions represented by persons in the age periods from 5 to 29 years a general increase is noted….” [p. 54.] (US Bureau of the Census. “Acute Anterior Poliomyelitis (Infantile Paralysis).” Mortality Statistics 1910, 1913 pp. 53-54.)

USPHS: “From the reports of cases and deaths it appears that during 1910 the greatest prevalence of the disease was in Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania, and that a considerable, although lesser, number of cases occurred in Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. The seeming greater prevalence in these States may, however, be due, to some extent at east, to an active interest on the part of the health authorities and the more general recognition of cases on the part of practicing physicians. In those States in which the disease is not notifiable its prevalence must remain largely unknown.” (US PH&MHS. Public Health Rpts. V27, N16, 4-19-1912, p. 548.)

Connecticut (and Massachusetts)

Caverly: “Since the Vermont epidemic of 1894 this state has not suffered from this disease in anything approaching epidemic form until 1910. In 1910 we had in the state sixty-nine [72]^[5] cases, of which accurate records can be secured. The actual number of cases was greater than this. Many physicians and some health officers were slow to learn that the disease was reportable. Hence some cases escaped official notice.

“The history of this outbreak in Vermont is interesting especially because of its possible relation to outbreaks in Massachusetts and the Province of Quebec. The state of Massachusetts suffered a rather extensive outbreak in 1910. One of the chief foci of the disease in that state was in the city of Springfield. In that city there were 130 cases.^[6] The disease in Springfield began in May, increased to July, when the epidemic culminated, and decreased gradually through August, September and October.

“An outbreak of the disease also occurred in the Province of Quebec…. [p. 41]

“Poliomyelitis, Vermont, 1910. Seasonal Distribution. Vermont State Board of Health.”

July August September October November

12 cases 17 cases 23 cases 12 cases 2 cases [p. 42]

“The only comment that seems necessary at this point is the fact that the disease began in Vermont two months later than in the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts. The Canadian outbreak seems to have begun in June, but most of the cases occurred in August and September, coincident with the Orleans County group in Vermont…. [p. 42]

“The distribution of the disease in the state is still more suggestive in connection with our neighbors north and south. The accompanying chart [which we modify] shows graphically the relative number of cases by counties and also on the east and west of the Green Mountains. It will be noted that fifty-one of the sixty-nine cases reported were on the east side of the state.

“Poliomyelitis. Vermont, 1910. Distribution by Counties East and West.”

East West

Orleans 20 Rutland 8

Washington 12 Crittenden 7

Windham 8 Addison 1

Windsor 7 Bennington 1

Caledonia 4 Franklin 1

Essex 0 Grand Isle 0

Orange 0 Lamoille 0

Total 51 Total 18 [pp. 42-43]

….

“Poliomyelitis. Vermont, 1910. Division of Cases According to Age.”

Under 5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50

32 8 13 8 5 2 [p. 45]

“….The average age of those who died was thirteen years and four months; and of those that fully recovered nineteen years and ten months. [p. 45] ….

“Number of cases that occurred in a town located on a railroad . . 58

“Number of cases that occurred in towns off the railroad…….. 11 [p. 47] ….

“Condition of Cases Six to Nine Months After Attack and Deaths.”

Fully Recovered Some Degree of Paralysis Died

5 54 10 [p. 50]

“The death rate of poliomyelitis has been variously stated by late investigators at from 8 to 15 per cent.” [p. 50] ….” (Caverly. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in the Year 1910.” Bulletin of the Vermont State Board of Health, Vol. 12, No. 2, 12-1-1911. Reprinted, at p. 39 in: Vermont Department of Public Health. Infantile Paralysis in Vermont 1894-1922 – A Memorial to Charles S. Caverly, M.D. Burlington: State Department of Public Health, 1924.)

Sources

Caverly, Charles S., M.D. “Anterior Poliomyelitis in Vermont in the Year 1910.” Published in Bulletin of the Vermont State Board of Health, Vol. 12, No. 2, 12-1-1911. Reprinted, at p. 39 in: Vermont Department of Public Health. Infantile Paralysis in Vermont 1894-1922 – A Memorial to Charles S. Caverly, M.D. Burlington: State Department of Public Health, 1924. Digitized by Internet Archive, 2013. Accessed 11-11-2013: https://archive.org/details/infantileparalys00cave

United States Bureau of the Census. Department of Commerce. “Causes of Death,” Mortality Statistics 1910 (Eleventh Annual Report). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1913. Accessed 1-20-2020 at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsushistorical/mortstatsh_1910.pdf

Unites States Public Health Service. “Poliomyelitis in the United States, 1910 and 1911.” Public Health Reports, Vol. 27, No. 16, 4-19-1912, pp. 547—550. Accessed 1-20-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=GgE4AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=true

United States Public Health Service, Treasury Department (C. H. Lavinder, A. W. Freeman, and W. H. Frost). Epidemiologic Studies of Poliomyelitis in New York City and the North Eastern United States During the Year 1916 (Public Health Bulletin No. 91, July, 1918, 340 pages). Washington: U.S. Public Health Service (GPO), 1918. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=CH4CAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Also: http://books.google.com/books?id=pI8dIjkMyI4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[1] The reason the tally of States & DC is 1,635 rather than 1,459, is that the PH&MHS has two columns for deaths from polio in 1910 – one, a “reporting State” column, and the second a U.S. Census Bureau column. We took the high figure whichever column.

[2] Based on US Bureau of the Census data from “registration States and cities.”

[3] “Additional deaths (35) reported from nonregistration territory in Oregon make up a total of 164 [estimated polio deaths in Pacific States].”

[4] Caverly writes that “…the 1910 outbreak affected chiefly the Connecticut and tributary valleys, and…the brunt of the epidemic was felt chiefly about Brattleboro, Windsor, Montpelier, Barton and Irasburg. In these regions occurred fifty-two of the seventy-two cases which were recorded in the state.”

[5] Caverly footnotes indicates three additional cases had “come to light” since his text was written.

[6] Cites: Annual Report of the Health Department, Springfield, 1910.

1910 — Summer-Fall esp., Polio, esp. IA/161, MA/122, MN/97, NY/170, PA/269–1,459-2,449