In the Shadow of War: Polio in the 1940s

Although World War Two overshadowed all other stories in Idaho and the rest of the U.S., Idaho newspapers documented increased rates of polio infection during the decade. Stories published in Idaho during those years also followed the national efforts of medical research into the nature of poliomyelitis, its means of spread, and the search for a cure.

In this time period, while the doctors had no success in a cure, their efforts in prevention met with some success. These prevention efforts consisted primarily of speculation and testing to seek the infection method that polio used to enter the body. Disproving earlier theories that insects carried the virus, researchers demonstrated that it entered the body through the digestive system and then attacked the nervous system.

One of the more widely publicized attempts at stopping polio came from the belief that flies could carry the disease. In 1947 Caldwell sought to eradicate flies and several other insect species from the city. They were largely successful in eliminating the pests and as a result learned that it was not insects that spread the disease, as the city quickly had an outbreak of polio.

The year 1947 saw the first major epidemic of poliomyelitis in Idaho, alongside ever increased efforts to prevent the contraction of polio. Only 12 cases were reported in the first six months of the year, after which until numerous cases began occurring. This reflected the usual, seasonal pattern of summer outbreaks of polio. Starting in Ada County, infection spread throughout thirty-three of the forty-four counties in the state.

The Twin Falls Times News reported forty-six cases statewide on August 10th, 1947. By October 31, 1947, this paper printed a story of three new cases in the Boise area, bringing the total to 203 cases of polio in Idaho that year.

The Paris Post on January 15th, 1948, summarized the Idaho epidemic of 1947, categorizing the 303 total reported cases by county, sex, and age. October was the worst month for the pandemic, with 110 of the cases being reported in that month alone.

Other than 1947, Idaho’s experience with poliomyelitis during that decade was uneventful and overshadowed. Local infections and national news brought increased awareness of polio, the changing theories behind infection methods, and research into the eventual vaccine.

Spencer McArthur, June 2021

Sources

"Flyless City Gets Polio," Science News Letter 52 (October 11, 1947): 231.

"Girls of Hansen, Jerome Get Polio." Twin Falls Times News, October 31, 1947.

"Health Department Gives Complete Analysis on Polio Epidemic in State During the Past Year." Paris Post, January 15, 1948.

Moir, Nathaniel L. "To Boldly Remember Where We Have Already Been: Revisiting the Cutter Polio Vaccine Incident during Operation Warp Speed." Journal of Applied History 2 (2020): 17-35.

Oshinsky, David. "Miracle Workers." American Heritage 59, no. 4 (Winter 2010): 85-87.

"Polio Case Total Hits 46 in Idaho as 3 More Told." Twin Falls Times News, August 10, 1947.

"Poliomyelitis in Idaho, 1947-1948." Boise: Idaho State Department of Public Health, 1948.

Steele, Volney. "Fear in the Time of Infantile Paralysis: The Montana Experience." Montana: The Magazine of Western History 55, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 64-74.

Wellner, Karen L. "Polio and Historical Inquiry." OAH Magazine of History, September 2005, 54-58.