Medicine and Transportation During the 1950s one disease that was the most feared was polio. 60,000 children were infected with the disease with tons of people paralyzed and over 3,000 children dead. According to Jason Beaubien On April 12, 1955, Dr. Jonas Salk and his research team at the University of Pittsburgh released the first successful vaccine for polio. The virus was completely eliminated during the year 1979. The outbreak started in New York City with 27,000 cases and 6,000 deaths ‘Beaubien Jason’. As the number of cases grew for polio the disease it changed the way Americans looked at public health in the 1950s. In the 1950 it was a whole new way to travel you could do it by car, boat, bike, ships, and wagons. According to Gunther Toody's, In 1950 there were 25 million registered automobiles, the majority of which were made pre-World War II, and by 1958 there were 67 million registered. In 1955, the National Highway system expanded with multi lane highways for speeds and more vehicles to fit in more than just one lane. The electric trolley was meant for people so that they did not have to depend on horse and foot. For the people that had to walk far to there job the cars had made it a short drive away. Polio in the 1952 had reached 50,000 cases of this deadly disease. Polio occurred in all 48 states at the …show more content…
The health department wanted everyone to have good hygiene and health so they built houses with medicine cabinets in them. According to the National Museum of American History And they advised filling those new, built-in medicine cabinets with preventatives and remedies--products deemed essential at a time of rising standards of personal care. The cabinet was big or small but it would stay in your bathroom and you would grab items out of there. Back then the names were different so in the morning people would use tooth powder and water to brush their
In the United States there was a vicious enemy everyone feared. In the 1950s the United States was under attack by the ruthless Poliomyelitis virus. Americans lived in constant fear of their children contracting this horrible virus that left many children paralyzed. During the outbreaks in the 1950s foundations were created to fund research and create awareness to help find a way to eradicate the virus. Americans become focused on doing anything in their power to fight this virus off. Jonas Salk’s Exploration of Medicine and research led to the creation of the Polio vaccine that united the country, prevented further outbreaks, and introduced a new form of treatment which has limited the fatality of polio infections today.
Recorded during 1980 a total of 87.2% of American homes owned at least one vehicle, while 51.5% of Americans owned more than one vehicle.[2] The increasing amount of sales resulted in an increase in the amount of cars that were on the road. The large amount of cars made the time of traveling from one destination to another longer than it was when not as many vehicles were on the road. Reducing the amount of time it took to travel lead to the idea of the highway system in 1938.[4] The extensive process of figuring out where the highways should lay and how they should be created did not allow the building process to begin until 1956.[4] Besides reducing the amount of time that it took to travel to each destination the highway system will
At first polio was a troubling prospect when it first reared its ugly head in the United States of America. In a noble effort to be rid of polio, America as a whole was to adopt stringent sanitation measures. Everywhere, especially the home was to be spotless and clean in order to try and prevent the contraction of polio. This coupled with the view that America as a western nation seemed impervious to such a lowly disease tried to assuage American fear of the disease. Despite the measures commonly adopted throughout the myriad of cities and towns, polio still managed to spread around the country and wreak havoc taking thousands of lives. An outbreak that ravaged America claimed nearly 27,000 lives in a terrible reckoning before it finally subsided. This and several other troubling outbreaks
Both many successes and problems arose within these new industrial cities. One of these problems was that of the transportation issue. To some, the densely populated cities were difficult to navigate. Often having populations in the hundreds of thousands, these cities were only a few square miles in size. One of the first inventions created to tackle this problem was the omnibus. The omnibus was similar to a horse drawn carriage, except that it was much longer. "Putting the car on iron tracks then enabled the horses to pull more passengers at a faster clip through crowded city streets" (Henretta, 2009). An improvement over the omnibus came later in the form of the electric trolley. The trolley was a carriage th...
The death rate was on the decline and life expectancy rose during this period. New medical developments were made with the federal funding of medical research in which penicillin and streptomycin were developed. These advancements in medicine have cured many bacterial infections and severe illnesses. Later, in 1952, Jonas Salk introduced a polio vaccine. There was a vast migratory pattern among many Americans during this time period.
Many people, mainly kids suffered from polio, which is a disease that causes the child to become paralyzed. This disease was feared greatly at the time, until Dr. Jonas Salk created a vaccination for the disease in 1952. Within six years, the vaccine brought the disease under control. Everybody was really excited for this new vaccination. There are many pictures from the 50s with Dr. Salk himself giving the vaccination to kids. The March of Dimes foundation took many photos; one of the many is of a young boy with his mother, Salk, and a nurse giving the vaccine. This picture is actually his wif...
Salk is known as one of the most prominent scientist of the twentieth century and one of the most noble people the world has ever seen. He was raised in the poor part of New York. Education was a priority for his family and they teach him to apply himself to his studies. In 1942 Salk assisted to the University of Michigan with the purpose of developing a cure to one of the ghastliest diseases of his time, polio. In 1951 was discovered that there were 3 different types of polio and this discovery pushed Salk’s research ahead. The testing for the polio vaccine began in 1952 on volunteers that had the disease. By 1955 the vaccine was licensed by the U.S government and helped many infected people. Salk died June 23, 1995 of a hearth failure. Jonas Salk had the opportunity to patent the vaccine and make a significant amount of money but he decided to leave it open to the
Fifty-nine years after the vaccine was introduced to the world, the number of cases of outbreaks has dropped 99% and only three countries still remain in an epidemic state with the virus, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 1994, the WHO Region of the Americas was certified polio-free and in in 2013 only406 reported cases were existent in the world, compared to the 350 000+ cases in 1988. (Who, 2014).
Polio: An American Story describes a struggle to find a vaccine on polio through several researchers’ lives, and over the course of many years. The second thesis is the struggle between Salk and Sabin, two bitter rivals who had their own vaccine that they believed would cure polio. The author David M. Oshinsky, is describing how difficult it was to find the cure to a horrifying disease, which lasted from the Great Depression until the 1960’s. Oshinsky then writes about how foundations formed as fundraisers, to support polio research. Lastly, the author demonstrates how researchers were forced to back track on multiple occasions, to learn more about polio.
Dr. Jonas Salk was an American medical researcher, physician, and virologist who developed the first safe and effective inactivated polio vaccine. Before this vaccine was created, polio vaccines usually contained live, weakened forms of the virus, but Salk developed a vaccine that contained an inactivated, dead form of polio, the first of its kind. Until the Salk vaccine was introduced on April 12, 1955, polio was considered the most frightening health problem in the United Sates. Just 3 years before the vaccine was released, almost 58,000 cases were reported, with 3,145 deaths and 21,269 paralyzed. Most of the victims were children, leaving them scarred for the rest of their lives, which, depending on how bad they were affected, wasn’t long. Because of this, scientist were frantic in finding a way to cure or at least prevent the disease, with massive support from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the world’s most recognized victim. Thanks to Dr. Salk, the people of the U.S., and the world, could stop worrying, at least about something.
When our country was at war, the military identified the need for trucks. Trucks were very important because it was difficult to find away to transport all the supplies, troops, and food. After WW1, this brought an increase in good roads plus an expanding economy. This helped grow the trucking industry. The 1920’s were the years of innovation. The balloon tires were introduced along with the rail road’s that were established “piggy-back” service. The first mechanically refrigerated van was introduced. In 1925, there were 500,000 miles of hard surface roads in the U.S. In 1926, a fully loaded 2 ton truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days.
The famous Jonas Salk figured out how to cure several deadly terrifying diseases, saving thousands of lives. One disease, he is most recognized for curing is polio. The Polio disease was also commonly known as the infantile paralysis disease (Jonas Salk Biography). Polio is a sickness that can take effect in a period of 24 hours making you unable to breathe or even move. The most vulnerable people, susceptible of getting this terrifying disease were children, pregnant women, and the elderly (Becker). “The United States reported 57,628 polio cases. That was the worst United States epidemic on record” (Becker). Salk took on the challenge of trying to destroy this disease and with many years of hard work and determination he finally conquered it (Becker). “This burden of fear was lifted forever when it was announced that Dr. Jonas Salk had developed a vaccine against the disease” (Jonas Salk). In honor of Salk’s scientific breakthrough and relieving the world from this frightening disease the governor created a day dedicated to Jonas Salk known as Jonas Salk Day on June 4, 1962 (Becker). Polio was not the only illness Salk attempted to
Poliomyelitis colloquially known as Polio is a viral infectious diseases that in severe forms can cause paralysis or even death. Polio affects the motor neurons of the anterior horns in the grey matter if the spinal cord. Without nerve stimulation, the muscles become weak and undergo atrophy, eventually resulting in paralysis. Polio in rare cases does spread to the brain stem causing paralysis to the diaphragm and loss of breathing. Thankfully a vaccine to combat polio was developed by Jonas Salk, several years later an oral vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin, and a global health initiative to eradicate polio began. With one of the most successful public health programs ever conducted on a global scale poliomyelitis rate went from 350,000 cases worldwide in 1988 to only 2,971 confirmed cases in 2000. Although the 99% decrease in Polio cases can be seen between 1988 and 2000, the goal of eradication has proven to be elusive. Currently the tantalizingly difficult last 1 % will be tackled by the correct human qualities, adaptable initiatives and better socio-economic condition in affected counties.
mostly children, and in the first half of the 20th century the epidemics of polio
For innumerable centuries, unrelenting strains of disease have ravaged society. From the polio epidemic in the twentieth century to the measles cases in the latter half of the century, such an adverse component of nature has taken the lives of many. In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox could foster immunity against smallpox; through injecting the cowpox into another person’s arm, he founded the revolutionary concept known as a vaccination. While many attribute the eradication of various diseases to vaccines, many United States citizens are progressively beginning to oppose them. Many deludedly thought that Measles had been completely terminated throughout the United States; however, many children have been patronized by