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This article originally appeared in the September 27, 2007, edition of the Crimson White.
By Jessica Alexander, Senior Staff Reporter
Author David Oshinsky discussed his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Polio: An American Story Wednesday.
Oshinsky was invited to speak by Kari Frederickson, associate history professor, and the Summersell Center for the South's lecture series. Oshinsky was her dissertation director while she was a graduate student at Rutgers University.
"We are grateful to the Summersell family for making it possible for the Tuscaloosa community to meet and hear from authors like Dr. Oshinsky," Frederickson said. "His body of work is impressive. He is one of the history profession's very best storytellers."
Oshinsky's lecture dealt with the history of polio and the country's efforts to battle the epidemic. He said polio became prevalent at a time when there was virtually no federal funding for disease research, and he said the main victims were young children.
"It was an insidious virus that terrorized people, especially children," Oshinsky said. "Tens of thousands of children were being infected. Polio is a very visual disease. You could see the wheelchairs, the leg braces. You come back from summer break and notice kids missing from their desks."
Polio infections started during the summer, and typically more boys were infected than girls, he said. Oshinsky said polio was theoretically a disease of cleanliness.
"As more sanitizers and antiseptics were being introduced into society, children at a young age were no longer exposed to the polio virus," Oshinksy said.
Oshinsky said former President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the most famous polio victim. Oshinsky has theories as to how the 39 year-old aristocrat came in contact with the virus.
He said he thinks Roosevelt was exposed to the virus during a Boy Scout jamboree after a hearing in Washington. He later fell off a yacht into very cold water and sat around in wet trunks for the rest of the day, further weakening his immune system. He was paralyzed with full-blown polio shortly after.
"That's my story and I'm sticking to it," Oshinsky said.
Soon after his paralysis Roosevelt created the March of Dimes, a program that "revolutionized philanthropy and how we do medical research in the U.S.," he said.
"The March of Dimes connected everyone to the cause. Even in the Great Depression people could afford to give a dime," Oshinsky said. "It was the first cause to use celebrities. Eventually the campaign raised half a billion dollars in the 1940s and 1950s. Twenty percent was donated to research of the virus."
Oshinsky said the biggest breakthroughs in research, including the Salk vaccine, which is used to this day, were funded by March of Dimes money.
To get his vaccine to the masses, Oshinsky said Salk had to test it. In the 1950s informed consent did not exist in the medical profession. If a person wanted to test a vaccine he would go to a mental institution or an orphanage, but Oshinsky said Salk needed millions of children to test the vaccine.
When the Salk vaccine came out, the March of Dimes sent out notices to schools and families about the vaccine saying that it would be a privilege to get the vaccine. 750,000 got three shots of a polio vaccine and another 750,000 got a placebo. It was a double blind study, Oshinsky said - it had not been tested, and parents were letting their kids be tested.
"It was voluntary. There was that moment in American history when people came together in fear. It is the largest public experiment and greatest medical crusade," Oshinsky said. "The March of Dimes was relentless, successful, and I have nothing but praise for them."
He said polio is not an issue in developed countries, but it is still a problem in countries such Nigeria, Pakistan and parts of India, where some religious ideologies will not allow American medicine. Oshinksy called it "cultural resistance."
"I'm very interested in the history of medicine and its creation and distribution throughout our society," said Kevin William, a sophomore majoring in international studies. "I thought it was interesting that was mostly a voluntary effort through private funds and philanthropy. It was by the people and for the people."
Posted October 2007
“The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past.” — William Faulkner