Origin
![Picture](/uploads/7/8/2/7/78277832/793044446.jpg?214)
There is evidence suggesting that Polio has existed as long as human society. An Egyptian tomb carving from 1300 BC depicts a priest with a foot deformity; a typical symptom of paralytic poliomyelitis. This suggests that polio may have been endemic to the area for thousands of years. However polio became a major health issue during Victorian times with epidemics in the United States and Europe. Major polio epidemics were unknown before the 20th century, and began to appear not only in countries with low sanitary standards but also appeared in countries with high hygiene standards such in Europe and the United States, around 1900.
Egypt, 1300 BC. Representation of a possible polio victim
on a tomb carving.
on a tomb carving.
A Timeline of the Spread of the disease
1843-The first report of multiple polio cases was published, describing an 1841 outbreak in Louisiana.
1916- New York experienced the first large epidemic, with more than 9,000 cases and 2,343 deaths. The 1916 toll nationwide was 27,000 cases and 6,000 deaths. From 1916 onward, a polio epidemic appeared each summer in at least one part of the country, with the most serious occurring in the 1940s and 1950s.
1949- Disease spread and many other countries faced major outbreaks. 2,720 deaths from the disease occurred in the United States ,42,173 cases were reported in Canada, and the United Kingdom was also affected.
1952 - Worst polio outbreak in the United States; 57,628 cases. A major breakthrough also came in 1952 when Dr Jonas Salk began to develop the first effective vaccine against polio.
1957-Mass public vaccination programmes followed. In the US alone, cases fell from 35,000 in 1953 to 5,300 .
1961-Despite the availability of vaccines polio remained a threat, with 707 acute cases and 79 deaths in the UK
1978- In India, vaccination against Polio started . It took somewhat longer for polio to be recognized as a major problem in developing countries.
1960s -70s- Similar vaccination programs started in other developing countries, most notably in Mexico, Brazil and Cuba
1979-Rotary International became involved with polio when it committed to providing OPV to six million children in the Philippines
1988- Polio had disappeared from the US, UK, Australia and much of Europe but remained wide-spread in more than 125 countries. The same year, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution to eradicate the disease completely by the year 2000.
1997- The last wild polio case recorded in the Western Pacific region which included China
1996-"Kick Polio out of Africa” campaign launched by Nelson Mandela.
2002- The WHO certified the European region Polio-free. Outbreak of polio in Uttar Pradesh, India
2003-Polio immunization suspended in Kano, Nigeria, leading to polio outbreak across Africa. So far, polio from Nigeria has travelled to 14 polio-free countries and re-infected six ;Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Sudan
2012- Polio remains officially endemic in three only countries - Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
2015-Polio remains endemic in only Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Visit:
http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/polio for more.