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| Paralysed with Fear: The Story of Polio by Gareth Williams – review | Paralysed with Fear: The Story of Polio by Gareth Williams – review |
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| Most British doctors and nurses working today will never have treated a case of polio. The closest most of us ever come to the polio virus is swallowing a sugarcube containing the oral vaccine or taking our children for their jabs. Today, we stand on the brink of eradicating polio from the world. | Most British doctors and nurses working today will never have treated a case of polio. The closest most of us ever come to the polio virus is swallowing a sugarcube containing the oral vaccine or taking our children for their jabs. Today, we stand on the brink of eradicating polio from the world. |
| Yet for anyone over the age of 50, polio still casts nightmarish shadows of babies entombed in iron lungs, children hobbling in leg irons and adults confined in wheelchairs. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere in unstoppable epidemics, polio killed or paralysed millions, and mostly affected children. The disease grabbed headlines, stoked panic and drove massive fundraising campaigns. Doctors and scientists were powerless to prevent or treat the scourge. Polio, as Gareth Williams suggests in his fascinating study, was one of the diseases that defined the 20th century. It is a disease that also defines the history of medicine. | Yet for anyone over the age of 50, polio still casts nightmarish shadows of babies entombed in iron lungs, children hobbling in leg irons and adults confined in wheelchairs. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere in unstoppable epidemics, polio killed or paralysed millions, and mostly affected children. The disease grabbed headlines, stoked panic and drove massive fundraising campaigns. Doctors and scientists were powerless to prevent or treat the scourge. Polio, as Gareth Williams suggests in his fascinating study, was one of the diseases that defined the 20th century. It is a disease that also defines the history of medicine. |
| Some might prefer to read a history of polio that unfolds a stirring narrative of dramatic breakthroughs by men and women working tirelessly to beat a merciless disease. As with much medical history, however, heroes are few and great leaps forward rare. Instead, the truth is a sorry tale of missed opportunities, dead ends and outright skulduggery by scientists apparently driven more by professional rivalry and self-aggrandisement than heroism, employing shameful ethical practices and sabotage to achieve their aims. | Some might prefer to read a history of polio that unfolds a stirring narrative of dramatic breakthroughs by men and women working tirelessly to beat a merciless disease. As with much medical history, however, heroes are few and great leaps forward rare. Instead, the truth is a sorry tale of missed opportunities, dead ends and outright skulduggery by scientists apparently driven more by professional rivalry and self-aggrandisement than heroism, employing shameful ethical practices and sabotage to achieve their aims. |
| Polio was virtually unknown before the end of the 19th century. Although the disease was first noted in 1789, only isolated cases surfaced until the first epidemic struck a village in France in 1885. From then on, polio gathered strength; there were epidemics in North America from the 1890s, Scandinavia from the early 1900s and the UK, Africa, Australia over the following 40 years. Scientists now blame this sudden upsurge on better sanitation, which prevented babies coming into contact with the virus while they still enjoyed maternal immunity. | Polio was virtually unknown before the end of the 19th century. Although the disease was first noted in 1789, only isolated cases surfaced until the first epidemic struck a village in France in 1885. From then on, polio gathered strength; there were epidemics in North America from the 1890s, Scandinavia from the early 1900s and the UK, Africa, Australia over the following 40 years. Scientists now blame this sudden upsurge on better sanitation, which prevented babies coming into contact with the virus while they still enjoyed maternal immunity. |
| While it was plain from the outset that the disease was contagious, doctors and charlatans competed with each other to blame outlandish causes, including cats, blueberries, milk, sugar and Italian immigrants. Sales of ice-cream plummeted during the sugar scare; 70,000 cats were massacred during the 1916 panic in New York. | While it was plain from the outset that the disease was contagious, doctors and charlatans competed with each other to blame outlandish causes, including cats, blueberries, milk, sugar and Italian immigrants. Sales of ice-cream plummeted during the sugar scare; 70,000 cats were massacred during the 1916 panic in New York. |
| In the US, which seemed to treat polio as a national affront, fear reached extreme levels. Although the toll in deaths and disability never reached the scale of measles, whooping cough or influenza, polio was listed in 1952 as Americans' greatest fear after nuclear attack. Inspired by the disease's most famous victim, President Franklin D Roosevelt, who was paralysed by polio in 1921, Americans raised millions of dollars in campaigns such as the March of Dimes. With scant concern for tact, fundraisers staged "Cripples Dances" and screened a film entitled The Crippler. | In the US, which seemed to treat polio as a national affront, fear reached extreme levels. Although the toll in deaths and disability never reached the scale of measles, whooping cough or influenza, polio was listed in 1952 as Americans' greatest fear after nuclear attack. Inspired by the disease's most famous victim, President Franklin D Roosevelt, who was paralysed by polio in 1921, Americans raised millions of dollars in campaigns such as the March of Dimes. With scant concern for tact, fundraisers staged "Cripples Dances" and screened a film entitled The Crippler. |
| Poliomyelitis was named in 1847 when the characteristic inflammation of grey matter in the spinal cord was first seen using a microscope (polio is Greek for grey; myelos for spinal cord) but scientific understanding advanced slowly thereafter. In 1908, Karl Landsteiner, a Viennese pathologist, demonstrated that polio must be caused by a virus but it took five more decades to identify that virus because of a series of "blind alleys, red herrings and charlatans". | Poliomyelitis was named in 1847 when the characteristic inflammation of grey matter in the spinal cord was first seen using a microscope (polio is Greek for grey; myelos for spinal cord) but scientific understanding advanced slowly thereafter. In 1908, Karl Landsteiner, a Viennese pathologist, demonstrated that polio must be caused by a virus but it took five more decades to identify that virus because of a series of "blind alleys, red herrings and charlatans". |
| Worldwide co-operation by scientists working towards a common goal might have resulted in a speedy, straightforward conquest. Instead, polio prospered while scientists argued and competed, championing their pet theories in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. When the figures didn't stack up, they distorted them. | Worldwide co-operation by scientists working towards a common goal might have resulted in a speedy, straightforward conquest. Instead, polio prospered while scientists argued and competed, championing their pet theories in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. When the figures didn't stack up, they distorted them. |
| One microbiologist manipulated statistics as late as 1954 in his campaign to persuade people that polio was caused by bacteria. Another scientist, backed by his boss at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, claimed to have identified the polio virus in some "globoid bodies" in 1913 and diverted medicine down the wrong track for two decades, until the objects were revealed as harmless globules of fat. Stubbornly insistent, despite numerous studies to the contrary, that the polio virus travelled from the nose into the brain, the Rockefeller team funded pointless research, sacrificed hundreds of thousands of laboratory animals and trialled useless nasal sprays on children, before finally accepting 30 years later that the virus reaches the central nervous system from the gut. | One microbiologist manipulated statistics as late as 1954 in his campaign to persuade people that polio was caused by bacteria. Another scientist, backed by his boss at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, claimed to have identified the polio virus in some "globoid bodies" in 1913 and diverted medicine down the wrong track for two decades, until the objects were revealed as harmless globules of fat. Stubbornly insistent, despite numerous studies to the contrary, that the polio virus travelled from the nose into the brain, the Rockefeller team funded pointless research, sacrificed hundreds of thousands of laboratory animals and trialled useless nasal sprays on children, before finally accepting 30 years later that the virus reaches the central nervous system from the gut. |
| In the meantime, millions of patients died or were paralysed. These were the real heroes, as Williams elegantly illustrates in personal stories of children who suffered agonising lumbar punctures and spent years in hospitals where parents were allowed to visit only once a month. | In the meantime, millions of patients died or were paralysed. These were the real heroes, as Williams elegantly illustrates in personal stories of children who suffered agonising lumbar punctures and spent years in hospitals where parents were allowed to visit only once a month. |
| It was clear early on that the key to defeating polio was an effective vaccine. Yet rather than focus scientific minds on an end to patients' miseries, the race for a vaccine produced the worst behaviour yet. Early pioneers in the 1930s were discouraged and their promising efforts derided. Twenty years later, two fierce rivals emerged. In 1954, Jonas Salk produced an injectable vaccine using a deactivated virus, which he duly tested on himself, his team, his family and then – according to standard practice – a home for "crippled children". Rolled out across America the same year, the vaccine was an outstanding success – though not without further setbacks as one of the manufacturers, Cutter Laboratories, let through a live virus leading to further deaths and disability. | It was clear early on that the key to defeating polio was an effective vaccine. Yet rather than focus scientific minds on an end to patients' miseries, the race for a vaccine produced the worst behaviour yet. Early pioneers in the 1930s were discouraged and their promising efforts derided. Twenty years later, two fierce rivals emerged. In 1954, Jonas Salk produced an injectable vaccine using a deactivated virus, which he duly tested on himself, his team, his family and then – according to standard practice – a home for "crippled children". Rolled out across America the same year, the vaccine was an outstanding success – though not without further setbacks as one of the manufacturers, Cutter Laboratories, let through a live virus leading to further deaths and disability. |
| Two years later, Albert Sabin produced an oral vaccine from attenuated – or weakened – virus, which he proceeded to test on himself, his family, his team and – induced by the promise of shorter sentences – male prisoners. Sabin's vaccine was cheaper to produce, easier to take and conferred lifelong immunity. The one in two million risk that a virus can re-emerge from the oral version has, however, seen Salk's vaccine recently reintroduced in the US and UK. | Two years later, Albert Sabin produced an oral vaccine from attenuated – or weakened – virus, which he proceeded to test on himself, his family, his team and – induced by the promise of shorter sentences – male prisoners. Sabin's vaccine was cheaper to produce, easier to take and conferred lifelong immunity. The one in two million risk that a virus can re-emerge from the oral version has, however, seen Salk's vaccine recently reintroduced in the US and UK. |
| Thanks – eventually – to worldwide collaboration polio might well soon become history. But, as Williams's punchy book reveals, that history is a quite extraordinary one. | Thanks – eventually – to worldwide collaboration polio might well soon become history. But, as Williams's punchy book reveals, that history is a quite extraordinary one. |
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