Polio's March

Unless there is a dramatic and unexpected reversal of trends, 1959 will be the worst year for poliomyelitis in the U.S. since 1955, when the Salk vaccine became generally available. With the peak not expected for another month, the U.S. Public Health Service reported last week that polio is almost twice as prevalent this year as last. Latest tallies showed 1,462 cases (956 paralytic) so far in 1959, v. 877 (only 437 paralytic) for the same period in 1958. In the latest week reported, the increase was especially alarming: 257 cases--a 50% jump over the previous week, and almost twice as many as in the corresponding week last year.

Still hardest hit were the year's first epidemic areas. Kansas City, Mo. and Des Moines (TIME, July 13). Near epidemic rates were noted in Little Rock, Ark., Wichita, Kans., Lincoln, Neb., Montgomery, Ala. and Oklahoma City. Clusters of cases occurred in New Haven, Conn., Yonkers, N.Y., Charleston, W. Va. and Nashville, Tenn. True to the early-season pattern, outbreaks were mainly in slum areas. Though many victims had had one or two shots of vaccine, few had had the three-dose course, fewer still the fourth (booster) shot now recommended.

The National Foundation was in a flurry of activity grimly reminiscent of pre-vaccine days. It flew eleven iron lungs to Des Moines, and other respiratory equipment to Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Fort Worth, New Ocleans, Nashville, Tenn., and Chapel Hill, N.C. The foundation also flew six nurses and a physical therapist to Des Moines, three nurses to New Orleans.

One good result of polio's big ill wind was a rush for vaccinations. Ironically, one of the places that needed a scare to get the needles flashing again was Pittsburgh, where Dr. Jonas E. Salk developed the vaccine. Thanks largely to a Pittsburgh Press drive, more than 150,000 shots have been given in a month in community clinics, at an average charge of 75^¢. In some areas vaccine supplies were exhausted for a while but soon replaced. So far the problem was only distribution, not a national shortage.

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