76 –1,043

lornajarrettblanchard January 1, 1955

–1,043 USPHS. Vital Statistics of the [US] 1955, Vol. II, Mortality Data. 1957, pp. 18, 376.
–~200 Boston, MA. Lowell Sun, “Polio Mortality Rate Takes Drop,” 12-1-1955.

— 18 Alabama — 8 Montana
— ? Alaska — 5 Nebraska
— 6 Arizona — 2 Nevada
— 10 Arkansas — 7 New Hampshire
— 38 California — 26 New Jersey
— 8 Colorado — 4 New Mexico
— 18 Connecticut — 77 New York
— 0 Delaware — 8 North Carolina
— 7 District of Columbia — 1 North Dakota
— 12 Florida — 37 Ohio
— 15 Georgia — 6 Oklahoma
— ? Hawaii — 12 Oregon
— 9 Idaho — 20 Pennsylvania
— 51 Illinois — 26 Rhode Island
— 20 Indiana — 8 South Carolina
— 15 Iowa — 1 South Dakota
— 5 Kansas — 10 Tennessee
— 8 Kentucky — 76 Texas
— 12 Louisiana — 3 Utah
— 4 Maine — 1 Vermont
— 8 Maryland — 8 Virginia
–168 Massachusetts — 18 Washington
— 33 Michigan — 7 West Virginia
— 11 Minnesota –166 Wisconsin
— 6 Mississippi — 1 Wyoming
— 9 Missouri

Narrative Information

CDC: ““Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body)…

“Most people who get infected with poliovirus (about 72 out of 100) will not have any visible symptoms. About 1 out of 4 people with poliovirus infection will have flu-like symptoms that may include—

• Sore throat Nausea
• Fever Headache
• Tiredness Stomach pain

“These symptoms usually last 2 to 5 days then go away on their own.

“A smaller proportion of people with poliovirus infection will develop other more serious symptoms that affect the brain and spinal cord:

• Paresthesia (feeling of pins and needles in the legs)
• Meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain) occurs in about 1 out of 25 people with poliovirus infection
• Paralysis (can’t move parts of the body) or weakness in the arms, legs, or both, occurs in about 1 out of 200 people with poliovirus infection

“Paralysis is the most severe symptom associated with polio because it can lead to permanent disability and death. Between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who have paralysis from poliovirus infection die because the virus affects the muscles that help them breathe.

“Even children who seem to fully recover can develop new muscle pain, weakness, or paralysis as adults, 15 to 40 years later. This is called post-polio syndrome.

“Note that “poliomyelitis” (or “polio” for short) is defined as the paralytic disease. So only people with the paralytic infection are considered to have the disease…

“Poliovirus only infects humans. It is very contagious and spreads through person-to-person contact. The virus lives in an infected person’s throat and intestines. It enters the body through the mouth and spreads through contact with the feces (poop) of an infected person and, though less common, through droplets from a sneeze or cough. You can get infected with poliovirus if you have feces on your hands and you touch your mouth. Also, you can get infected if you put in your mouth objects like toys that are contaminated with feces (poop).

“An infected person may spread the virus to others immediately before and about 1 to 2 weeks after symptoms appear. The virus can live in an infected person’s feces for many weeks. It can contaminate food and water in unsanitary conditions.

“People who don’t have symptoms can still pass the virus to others and make them sick.

“Prevention: Polio vaccine protects children by preparing their bodies to fight the polio virus. Almost all children (99 children out of 100) who get all the recommended doses of vaccine will be protected from polio.

“There are two types of vaccine that can prevent polio: inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). Only IPV has been used in the United States since 2000; OPV is still used throughout much of the world.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What Is Polio? Last reviewed 7-25-2017. Accessed 4-15-2019.)

Children’s Hospital Boston: “The summer of ’55: Boston During the polio epidemics, hospitals had to mobilize to cope with a sudden onslaught of patients. A case in point: the very year the Salk vaccine was announced, Massachusetts suffered the worst polio epidemic in its history. The epicenter was Children’s Hospital Boston, which took in adults and children alike and dedicated all but one ward to polio care. Hospitals around the city loaned cribs, and staff of all descriptions, as well as volunteers, toiled overtime in record heat (at one point hitting 104?) to keep up. Panicked families overwhelmed hospital emergency admission facilities, forcing doctors to triage people in their cars. If a child seemed to have polio, the family could bypass the line of autos, which stretched for blocks. Patients and beds sometimes had to wait outside until space opened up on the wards. Several staff members were stricken with polio, and two patients had babies while at Children’s, one needing help with breathing throughout the birth.

Sadly, mass vaccination had begun in Massachusetts that May in first- and second-graders. But a CDC investigation by Dr. Alex Langmuir concluded some of the vaccine in distribution contained live polio virus and had caused some cases of polio. So the state of Massachusetts suspended its immunization program until the following January.” (Children’s Hospital Boston. “Survivors to Revisit the Polio Scare.” March 10, 2005.)

Newspapers:

Aug 13, AP: “Boston, Aug 13 (AP) – With 77 new cases reported, the New England polio toll today stands at 1,493 [cases] Three recent deaths raised the death count in the area to 48. One of the deaths was that of 15-year-old Joan Rhodes of Marshfield. Two younger brothers and a sister of the victim also have been stricken with the disease.

“The breakdown in New England with corresponding 1954 totals:

Massachusetts, 1,158 – 126;
Connecticut, 157 – 110;
New Hampshire, 85 – 15;
Rhode Island, 54 – 14;
Maine, 39 – 14;
Vermont, 20 – 6.”
(Associated Press. “New England Toll Now 1,493.” Kingston Daily Freeman, 8-13-1955, p. 1.)

Dec 31, AP: “BOSTON, Dec., 1 (AP)—The mortality rate among 1330 polio cases treated at Children’s hospital during this year’s epidemic was l½ per cent compared with 14 per cent in 1927. This figure was reported to the hospital’s annual meeting yesterday…. the patient total was more than double the 650 patients the hospital cared for during the 1949 polio epidemic.” (Lowell Sun, “Polio Mortality Rate Takes Drop,” December 1, 1955.)

Sources

Associated Press. “New England Toll Now 1,493.” Kingston Daily Freeman, 8-13-1955, p. 1. Accessed 4-21-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingston-daily-freeman-aug-13-1955-p-1/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What Is Polio? Last reviewed 7-25-2017. Accessed 4-15-2019 at: https://www.cdc.gov/polio/about/index.htm

Children’s Hospital Boston. “Survivors to Revisit the Polio Scare.” March 10, 2005. Accessed at: http://www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom/Site1339/mainpageS1339P1sublevel132.html

Lowell Sun, MA. “Polio Mortality Rate Takes Drop,” December 1, 1955. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=55762541&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=20

United States Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Vital Statistics of the United States 1955, Volume II, Mortality Data. Washington, GPO, 1957. Accessed 4-21-2023 at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/VSUS_1955_2.pdf