Home Local News COVID PANDEMIC PARALLELS LOCAL POLIO EPIDEMIC OF 1952

COVID PANDEMIC PARALLELS LOCAL POLIO EPIDEMIC OF 1952

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SATURDAY IS “WORLD POLIO DAY” WHICH ACKNOWLEDGES THE NEAR ERADICATION OF POLIO AS A FATAL ILLNESS ON OUR PLANET.

KEVIN GRIEME, DIRECTOR OF SIOUXLAND DISTRICT HEALTH, SAYS THERE ARE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE OUTBREAK OF POLIO IN THE 1950’S IN IOWA, AND THE CURRENT COVID-19 PANDEMIC:

OC……..THAT COME IN. :21

SIOUX CITY’S FIRST POLIO PANDEMIC CASE WAS REPORTED MAY 1ST OF 1952, ALTHOUGH THE DISEASE HAD BEEN AROUND SINCE THE 1930’S.

GRIEME SAYS SIOUX CITY PLAYED A ROLE IN THE RESEARCH TO COME UP WITH A VACCINE, WITH 15,968 LOCAL CHILDREN GIVEN GAMMA GLOBULIN TO TREAT THE DISEASE.

THE METRO AREA WAS ONE OF THREE SITES CHOSEN NATIONALLY TO TAKE PART IN WHAT WAS THE LARGEST FIELD TEST IN MEDICAL HISTORY.

OC………PERSONAL BEHAVIORS. :14

GRIEME SAYS A SERIES OF RECOMMENDATIONS GIVEN TO RESIDENTS TO PREVENT POLIO IN THE 1950’S IS SIMILAR TO COVID PREVENTION EFFORTS TODAY:

OC……..FROM CROWDS. :21

GRIEME SAYS ONE UNUSUAL POSSIBLE PREVENTION MEASURE FOR POLIO WAS QUICKLY DISPROVEN FROM THE LIST:

OC………CASES OF POLIO. :09

AROUND 5000 WOODBURY COUNTY CHILDREN WERE PART OF A NATIONWIDE TEST OF THE SALK VACCINE TO STOP THE EPIDEMIC.

 

MANY PATIENTS WERE HOSPITALIZED IN “IRON LUNGS” TO HELP WITH THEIR BREATHING IN THE 1950’S, SIMILAR TO RESPIRATORS FOR COVID PATIENTS TODAY.

FIFTY-THREE SIOUX CITY RESIDENTS DIED OF POLIO IN 1952, AND 923 WERE HOSPITALIZED THAT YEAR.

94 WOODBURY COUNTY RESIDENTS HAVE DIED OF COVID-19 RELATED ILLNESS SINCE MARCH.

SIOUX CITY REPORTED ITS LAST CONFIRMED CASE OF POLIO IN 1967, 15 YEARS AFTER THE LOCAL PANDEMIC BEGAN.