Straws in the wind: early epidemics of Poliomyelitis in Johannesburg, 1918-1945

Abstract

This thesis offers a detailed account of early polio epidemics (between 1918 and 1945) in Johannesburg, where the disease was particularly severe. At this time, little was known about the poliovirus, and such limited understanding affected the public health and medical initiatives taken during this period. These actions are highlighted in the thesis, along with the responses of the media and lay public to the disease. The effect of war on the management of the disease is also examined, as it siphoned off vital medical personnel and jeopardised disease control. It also lent an emotional overlay to the way the disease was perceived, as `battle' rhetoric became the parlance used against polio, which was personified as the `enemy' of innocent children who were disabled at the whim of the virus. The epidemic of 1944-1945 was the first to be systematically investigated, by Dr James Gear as part of his groundbreaking polio research; he later became part of an international team of researchers who contributed to the development of a prophylactic vaccine within a decade of this epidemic.