Once a terrifying childhood disease, polio left thousands paralyzed and changed the course of medicine forever. In this episode, we dive into the history of polio—from ancient Egypt to the devastating 1916 NYC outbreak—and how it led to the invention of the iron lung, the birth of intensive care, and a global vaccine movement. Learn how scientists like Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin helped turn panic into prevention—and why keeping up with vaccines still matters today.
1) https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/history-disease-outbreaks-vaccine-timeline/polio
2) https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/article/breaking-the-back-of-polio/
3) Neurohospitalist 2014 Oct;4(4):223–229. doi: 10.1177/1941874414533352 polio history and epidemology, Clinical manifestations of polio
3) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00781-8/abstract. Switch to OPV 2 strain vaccine
4) https://ourworldindata.org/polio
5) https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)32552-2/pdf Vaccine refusal rate in Pakistan
7)https://www.verywellhealth.com/important-facts-about-polio-4588579
8) Small Steps –The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret