All Blog Posts in "Polio"
Comics Enter The Fight Against Polio Part 2
January 13, 2012
By David LoTempio, Contributor (With assistance from Steven Bennett for additional research) The 1940s were a dangerous and nervous time in America, and not just because of World War II. The nation experienced cyclical and increasingly widespread epidemics of polio during this period. While most people exposed to the virus would fully recover, the disease’s dramatic ability to paralyze or kill the infected left a profound fear through the country. The National Foundation for Infantile Paralys…
Comics Enter the Fight Against Polio
November 9, 2011
By David LoTempio, Contributor (All images researched and provided by Steven Bennett) Polio—scourge of children and microscopic hidden enemy of parents—was a frequent national health issue in America through the first 50 years of the twentieth century. The virus killed 2000 children in New York City alone during the 1916 epidemic and left thousands more paralyzed across the United States. Epidemics during the summer were an annual event. In response to the epidemics plaguing the country, Pre…