Once again I'd like to take the time to discuss H1N1 since we are still around the one year anniversary of its dramatic entrance into our lives. I realize that covering the same topic twice in a week's time might go against all tenants of modern media but hey, I guess I'm just old fashioned that way. This time though, I'd like to focus on how we handled the news of this coming plague as is compares to how such things were handled in the past.
Picture this, suburbia 1952 (and yes, I am watching Golden Girls in the background), rows of new homes with pristine green lawns and American cars parked in the driveway stretch as far as the eye can see. Well, most of the houses at least. One stands out amongst the others as its taped off with giant signs warning neighbors to stay away. What reason would anyone quarantine off a house, and the family inside, you ask? Well, 1952 was the worse year in recorded history for the plaque of the time, Poliomyelitis. Of course, you history buffs know that 1952 wasn't the first year Polio virus reared its evil head, in fact, Polio is at least as old as the Pharaohs. So what was different about it in the early to mid 1900s? Mainly, society had changed and we had become more sanitary. While most of us think sanitation is a good thing (my olfactory senses definitely agree), there are some drawbacks, one of them being that very young children were not exposed to the Polio virus like they had been for millenia. Unlike most viruses, it turns out that Polio actually causes far worse problems for older children and adults than for infants and our new found sanitation did just that. What was once a virus that rarely caused any complications had become quite the monster, killing over 3000 people and paralyzing 20,000 others in 1952 alone.
As to be expected, the years o
f Polio related disease had struck fear into the heart of the nation. Extreme measures were often taken in the event of a new Polio diagnosis. Families were quarantined, schools and public places closed, children separated from parents, entire households worth of possessions incinerated, all to prevent the spread of the virus. We shouldn't blame people for their reactions during that time, there were no treatments nor a vaccine. Many of those paralyzed ended up in Iron lungs, some of whom never had the chance to leave. But even in all that despair there was also a common bond, through which something incredible happened. Instead of feeling helpless at the hands of Polio, a vision of a polio free world was born, a vision that managed to unite Americans in one of the greatest fundraising drives in our history...the March of Dimes. It was simple concept really, the March of Dimes asked everyone in the United States to give a Dime if they could spare, and even in times as tough as the Great Depression, they did. It allowed everyone to participate in defeating a true evil in the world, it provided a single focus. The March of Dimes raised millions of dollars in an incredibly short amount of time. Money that went directly to funding research on Polio virus. It would take years for the research to finally pay off, but in 1954, Dr. Salk would announce he was ready to test the first Polio vaccine. Millions of people volunteered their children to see if the vaccine worked...and work it did. In 1955 the vaccine was licensed and the March of Dimes organized campaigns to get the vaccine to anyone and everyone. And vaccinations they got, by the score. People lined up for hours on end to get their children the vaccine and, by 1961, less than 200 cases of Poliomyelitis were reported in the United States.
Now, lets flash forward to 2009. Polio is gone, in fact, it might actually only live in the lab after extensive vaccination programs around the world. We have a new enemy though, H1N1, a strain of influenza that threatens to turn the world on its head. Much like polio outbreaks of yesteryear, there is a lot of fear across the nation. The slightest hint of an outbreak closes schools in several metropolitan areas. People are afraid to fly and everywhere you go, everywhere you look, on every TV channel, all you see is H1N1. For months you couldn't get away from it, all very reminiscent of our old friend Polio. Unlike Polio though, the unifying drive to fight this disease seemed absent, at least to me. Maybe it was the fact that there are anti-flu drugs, or maybe it was the fact that a vaccine would likely be available before the end of the year, but the nation did not rally to fight H1N1. There was no March of Dimes, or a celebrity clad telethon for H1N1. In fact, there seemed to be a mistrust surrounding it. I might expect people to not get vaccinated out of laziness or forgetfulness, but, never in my life would I expect people to out right protest vaccination, but people did, lots of them. In fact, when it was announced that H1N1 would be included in the 2010 seasonal flu vaccine, blogs were overwhelmed with posts screaming that they would never take a vaccine that included H1N1, even though the seasonal Flu vaccine has been around for decades. The real question is why? why such the difference in reaction to H1N1? is it a lack of trust of Doctors? the government? the empty, unfounded, fabricated claims that vaccines cause autism? leprechauns that lost their gold? To be honest I'm not sure but I think its a little bit of all the above (well, of course the leprechauns). I'd love to know other opinions as to why this was/is as its very foreign to me.
If you are interested in learning more about Polio I'd recommend the wikipedia pages. They are quite thorough and seem to go on forever. There is also a very good episode of "This American Life" dedicated to what American was like during the polio years..highly recommended. Pictures above are courtesy of the CDC.
Picture this, suburbia 1952 (and yes, I am watching Golden Girls in the background), rows of new homes with pristine green lawns and American cars parked in the driveway stretch as far as the eye can see. Well, most of the houses at least. One stands out amongst the others as its taped off with giant signs warning neighbors to stay away. What reason would anyone quarantine off a house, and the family inside, you ask? Well, 1952 was the worse year in recorded history for the plaque of the time, Poliomyelitis. Of course, you history buffs know that 1952 wasn't the first year Polio virus reared its evil head, in fact, Polio is at least as old as the Pharaohs. So what was different about it in the early to mid 1900s? Mainly, society had changed and we had become more sanitary. While most of us think sanitation is a good thing (my olfactory senses definitely agree), there are some drawbacks, one of them being that very young children were not exposed to the Polio virus like they had been for millenia. Unlike most viruses, it turns out that Polio actually causes far worse problems for older children and adults than for infants and our new found sanitation did just that. What was once a virus that rarely caused any complications had become quite the monster, killing over 3000 people and paralyzing 20,000 others in 1952 alone.
As to be expected, the years o
f Polio related disease had struck fear into the heart of the nation. Extreme measures were often taken in the event of a new Polio diagnosis. Families were quarantined, schools and public places closed, children separated from parents, entire households worth of possessions incinerated, all to prevent the spread of the virus. We shouldn't blame people for their reactions during that time, there were no treatments nor a vaccine. Many of those paralyzed ended up in Iron lungs, some of whom never had the chance to leave. But even in all that despair there was also a common bond, through which something incredible happened. Instead of feeling helpless at the hands of Polio, a vision of a polio free world was born, a vision that managed to unite Americans in one of the greatest fundraising drives in our history...the March of Dimes. It was simple concept really, the March of Dimes asked everyone in the United States to give a Dime if they could spare, and even in times as tough as the Great Depression, they did. It allowed everyone to participate in defeating a true evil in the world, it provided a single focus. The March of Dimes raised millions of dollars in an incredibly short amount of time. Money that went directly to funding research on Polio virus. It would take years for the research to finally pay off, but in 1954, Dr. Salk would announce he was ready to test the first Polio vaccine. Millions of people volunteered their children to see if the vaccine worked...and work it did. In 1955 the vaccine was licensed and the March of Dimes organized campaigns to get the vaccine to anyone and everyone. And vaccinations they got, by the score. People lined up for hours on end to get their children the vaccine and, by 1961, less than 200 cases of Poliomyelitis were reported in the United States.
Now, lets flash forward to 2009. Polio is gone, in fact, it might actually only live in the lab after extensive vaccination programs around the world. We have a new enemy though, H1N1, a strain of influenza that threatens to turn the world on its head. Much like polio outbreaks of yesteryear, there is a lot of fear across the nation. The slightest hint of an outbreak closes schools in several metropolitan areas. People are afraid to fly and everywhere you go, everywhere you look, on every TV channel, all you see is H1N1. For months you couldn't get away from it, all very reminiscent of our old friend Polio. Unlike Polio though, the unifying drive to fight this disease seemed absent, at least to me. Maybe it was the fact that there are anti-flu drugs, or maybe it was the fact that a vaccine would likely be available before the end of the year, but the nation did not rally to fight H1N1. There was no March of Dimes, or a celebrity clad telethon for H1N1. In fact, there seemed to be a mistrust surrounding it. I might expect people to not get vaccinated out of laziness or forgetfulness, but, never in my life would I expect people to out right protest vaccination, but people did, lots of them. In fact, when it was announced that H1N1 would be included in the 2010 seasonal flu vaccine, blogs were overwhelmed with posts screaming that they would never take a vaccine that included H1N1, even though the seasonal Flu vaccine has been around for decades. The real question is why? why such the difference in reaction to H1N1? is it a lack of trust of Doctors? the government? the empty, unfounded, fabricated claims that vaccines cause autism? leprechauns that lost their gold? To be honest I'm not sure but I think its a little bit of all the above (well, of course the leprechauns). I'd love to know other opinions as to why this was/is as its very foreign to me.
If you are interested in learning more about Polio I'd recommend the wikipedia pages. They are quite thorough and seem to go on forever. There is also a very good episode of "This American Life" dedicated to what American was like during the polio years..highly recommended. Pictures above are courtesy of the CDC.
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