The Great Polio Epidemic

What Is Polio?

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus is highly contagious and spreads through person to person contact, and can invade an infected individual’s brain and spinal cord: causing paralysis.

In the early 20th century, polio was one of the most feared diseases of industrialized nations, paralysing hundreds of thousands of children each year. Before the polio vaccine became widely available in 1955, polio outbreaks caused more than 15,000 cause of paralysis each year. In 1954, testing began on one million children (ages 6 - 9) for a polio vaccine. One year later it was found to be safe and effective.

Today global incidents of polio have decreased by 99%, and is all but 1% eradicated.

Dr. Jonas SalkSalk was an American medical researcher and virologist. He

discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines.

Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1954The Nobel Prize in Physiology or

Medicine was jointly awarded to John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, and Frederick Chapman Robbins for their

discovery of “the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various

types of tissue.

The Iron LungThis machine, technically referred to as a negative pressure ventilator, was used as the first “modern” mechanical respirator for

those affected by polio. It allowed an individual to breathe on their own after loss

of muscle control, and paralysis of the chest.

Stories from the Polio Epidemic in Hugo

“A Father Contracts Polio”In 1949 Joe Maslowski (pictured right) was 27 years old when he contracted polio. Joe was married to Viola “Vi” (Molitor), and the couple lived in Hugo on a farm on 165th St with their two children: Gary (3) and Judith (6 mo.). Joe worked as a foreman for Seeger’s Refrigerator Co. in St. Paul, MN, and was diagnosed with polio while he was on his two week vacation.

The couple decided that with a recent report of a polio outbreak in Forest Lake, that it was safer to stay home in Hugo on their vacation rather than expose the kids to the virus. Joe had been helping his brother-in-law fill the silo all week, and by Sunday he was feeling so sick and exhausted that he spent the next day in bed with baby Judith. The next morning September 6, he went to see Dr. Ruggles in Forest Lake for a spinal tap.

Following his examination, Dr. Ruggles quickly sent Joe home to pack his belongings and was driven to Ancker Hospital by Vi and his brother. He was diagnosed with Bulbar Polio, a severe form affecting the respiratory and circulatory system. He was then sent off to Minneapolis General Hospital (HCMC) where by the time he got in the doors and began filling out papers, he had passed out. Joe was quarantined for seven days, with little communication between the hospital and his family. One week later, his brother Louis was able to obtain information on Joe’s condition and asked Vi to bring her husband anything to eat. Due to overcrowding in the hospital, patients were only given one bowl of soup a day.

When Vi reached the hospital she found Joe in a large open room with at least 30 other men who were also suffering from polio. He was still unable to move, and according to the hospital it had taken until Thursday for him to “come to” — where he then attempted to reach out for a cigarette. Nurses would place a hot woolen blanket on the patients every couple hours. The blanket were hot enough that for nurses to put them in place, they had to take out with “sticks.”

Joe stayed at Minneapolis General for three weeks until he was moved to the Sister Kenny Institute. He remained an outpatient at Sister Kenny for another three months.

Following his bought with polio, the Maslowski family sold their farm in Hugo and moved to a farm up North where they raised dairy cows. It would be three years before Joe would be able to return to work, and was never able to return to his job at Seeger’s. In 1975, Joe was diagnosed with lung and spinal cancer. He passed away April 5, 1977.

“Lasting Effects of Polio”On September 8, 1949, Ed Waugh (pictured left) was suddenly struck with a weakness in his legs and the inability to stand. Ed was admitted to Ancker Hospital and diagnosed with polio. He was eventually transferred to Sheltering Arms Foundation in Minneapolis on October 31, 1949 for therapy, and spent 15 days in an iron lung due to the weakness of his lungs and chest muscles. He remained at Sheltering Arms until May 11, 1950.

Following his recovery Ed sang in the church choir for 25 years. He and his wife, Grace, would also go on to raise three children.

The polio had a lasting effect on all of the muscles on Ed’s left side including his lungs and abdominal muscles. He was never able to walk again and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. However, with leg braces Ed was able to stand for short periods of time. The polio also left him with a permanent weakness of his lungs, and he died of lung complications at the age of 70.

Polio Strikes Hugo!