Polio, now almost extinct, was greatly feared 60 years ago. In some cases, it caused paralysis and even death. In the 1950s, massive vaccination campaigns were organized in Canada. At the turn of the 20th century, there were about 300 cases of polio per year in Quebec alone.
It is important to know:
It is an infectious disease caused by a virus called poliovirus, which is a gastrointestinal virus that attacks the nervous system by destroying the cells that activate the muscles. Hence the paralysis. Transmitted through nasal mucus or fecal-oral route, poliovirus can be contracted through contact with water, food or hands that have been in contact with the body fluids of an infected person. It is primarily a childhood disease. Before the creation of the vaccine, there were several hundred cases in Quebec each year. For example, in 1946: 1,612 people were recorded as having contracted this disease.
Dr. Armand Frappier was responsible for the creation, in 1938, of the Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene of the University of Montreal. In 1945, he founded a school of hygiene. He is one of the pioneers of preventive medicine in Canada.
The American Jonas Edward Salk began his research on polio in 1950. He discovered a vaccine in 1955. The existence of the Salk vaccine was made public on April 12, 1955. New laboratories were set up. Between 1955 and 1961, seven million Canadians received the Salk vaccine (three in one year). However, there was a period in 1955 that was called the "ineffective vaccine scandal" in the United States and the administration of the vaccine was suspended. It was in 1955 that a polio epidemic hit the Sa-guenay. In 1958, a fundraising campaign was launched, which eventually became the non-profit organization "La marche des dix sous".
Contrary to popular belief, polio can leave permanent and visible scars. In 2001, the Canadian government released a dime on which the Bluenose sailboat was replaced by the profile of three women, in reference to the mothers who had started the March of Dimes in Canada. In 1959, a resurgence of the disease led to fears of the worst. I was one of the victims of this disease during the summer of 1959, a hotter than usual summer. The demand for the vaccine was enormous.
#76 - Winter 2019
