1913 – Polio, acute anterior, esp. June-Sep (Sep peak), US “registration area” (65.1%)–864

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard January 15, 2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

 –864  Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 318.

–426  Nation.  Smallman-Raynor, et al. Poliomyelitis: Emergency to Eradication. 2006, 150.[1]

California                   (29)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 318.

Colorado                    (  1)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 318.

Connecticut                (  9)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 318.

District of Columbia (  2)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 319.

Indiana                       (45)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 319.

Kentucky                   (52)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 319.

Maine                         (14)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 319.

Maryland                   (19)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 319.

Massachusetts            (67)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 326.

Michigan                    (41)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 326.

Minnesota                  (36)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 326.

Missouri                     (48)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 326.

Montana                     (  8)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 326.

New Hampshire         (21)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 326.

New Jersey                 (30)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 327.

New York                 (136)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 327.

— 57  Buffalo.  NYT. “Paralysis Kills 22 More Babies in New York City.” 7-8-1916.

North Carolina          (10)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 327.

Ohio                            (62)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 327.

Pennsylvania              (96)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 327.

Rhode Island             (13)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 327.

Utah                            (  7)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 327.

Vermont                     (  6)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 334.

Virginia                      (44)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 334.

Washington                (11)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 334.

Wisconsin                   (30)      Bureau of the Census. Mortality Statistics 1913. Table 3, p. 334.

Narrative Information

Smallman-Raynor, et al. note there were 1,951 reported cases. (p. 150)

New York

“….Dr. Francis E. Fronczak, Health Commissioner of Buffalo, who conferred with Dr. Emerson yesterday [NYC Health Commissioner], said that in an epidemic of infantile paralysis in Buffalo in 1913, there were fifty-seven deaths out of 650 cases, and that 40 per cent of the patients remained paralyzed, but that some of those were slowly regaining use of their affected members under proper treatment. He added that the epidemic lasted from June until September, and that the death rate was higher in the latter month than in any month preceding.”  (New York Times.  “Paralysis Kills 22 More Babies in New York City; Death Total Now 187, and 87 New Cases Bring Number in City to 797. Libraries Bar Children.” 7-8-1916.)

Vermont

Caverly: “The number of cases of poliomyelitis in the state took a sharp rise again in 1913. The disease assumed epidemic proportions in a section of Caledonia and Orleans Counties, centering about Hardwick. The features of the disease as it prevailed in the state are briefly as follows:

Poliomyelitis – Vermont – 1913. Seasonal Distribution.  [p. 75]

Jan       Feb      Mar      Apr      May     June     July      Aug     Sep      Oct      Nov     Dec

          —          —          —         —          1          0          6         12       13         7           5          3

….

“The epidemic in the northeastern section of the state started in July. The first case was in Hardwick, occurring on July 12th. The patient, who worked in a stone-shed more or less, was the son of a section hand on the railroad. (This patient had had tonsils and adenoids removed seven years before.) The epidemic in the Hardwick section culminated in September. Five of the July cases in the State occurred at Hardwick. The sixth occurred in Burlington—an isolated case. The scattered cases in Walden, Wheelock, Lyndon, Barton and other towns occurred during the months of August, September and October. Glover cases occurred in October and November.” (p. 77)

“Of the 47 cases reported, 37 can fairly be assigned to the Hardwick outbreak. There was one other interesting and rather striking outbreak (4 cases) at Vergennes. Occurring late in the season, the first case in the series occurred on November 30th in the child of a liveryman. The disease was not recognized for some time and the possibility of stomoxys carriage was overlooked….

“Orleans County was the epidemic center of the 1910 outbreak; the adjoining county of Caledonia had the greatest number of cases this year. The starting of the epidemic, as has been mentioned, was in Caledonia County, and the cases in the adjoining counties of Essex and Orleans, very likely, in some way owed their origin to those in Caledonia.” (p. 78)

Poliomyelitis [Cases] – Vermont – 1913.  Age

Under 1           1-5       6-10     11-20   21-30   Over 30

                                         2                 16         15           8          4           3         [p. 80]

“In 1913, of the four deaths, one occurred in May, not connected apparently with any epidemic center, one in August, an isolated case, and the other two in July and August, in connection with the Hardwick-Glover outbreak.” (p. 84)

“That this disease follows lines of human traffic, rather than the valleys, through which sewage-polluted rivers flow, is quite obvious by a glance at the map.”  (p. 89)  (Caverly. “Epidemic Poliomyelitis…in Vermont.” Bulletin of Vermont State Board of Health, Vol. 14, No. 4, 6-1-1914.)

Sources

Bureau of the Census, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Mortality Statistics 1913. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1915. Accessed 11-15-2024 at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsushistorical/mortstatsh_1913.pdf

Caverly, Charles S., M.D. “Epidemic Poliomyelitis (Infantile Paralysis) in Vermont.” Published in Bulletin of the Vermont State Board of Health, Vol. 14, No. 4, 6-1-1914. Reprinted beginning at p. 69 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 at: https://archive.org/details/infantileparalys00cave

Hartford City Telegram IN. “Cancer and Consumption Reap A Deadly Harvest.” 12-31-1913, p. 7. Accessed 1-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hartford-city-telegram-dec-31-1913-p-7/

New York Times.  “Paralysis Kills 22 More Babies in New York City; Death Total Now 187, and 87 New Cases Bring Number in City to 797. Libraries Bar Children.” 7-8-1916. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60E11FE355B17738DDDA10894DF405B868DF1D3 )

Smallman-Raynor, R. R., A. D. Cliff, B. Trevelyan, C. Nettleton, S. Sneddon. Poliomyelitis: Emergency to Eradication – A World Geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

[1] Cites: R. B. Low. “A short account of the epidemiology of acute anterior poliomyelitis in recent years.” Forty-Fifth Annual Report of the Local Government Board, 1915-16. Supplement Containing the Report of the Medical Officer for 1915-16. London: HMSO, 1917, pp. 63-72.