Jonas Edward Salk  (October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995)

On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk
(above) announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine
against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease
of polio.

In 1952—an epidemic year for polio—there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000 died from the
disease.

For his work in helping to eradicate the disease, which is known
as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects children, Dr. Salk
was celebrated as the great doctor-benefactor of his time.

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SANDY KOZEL

The German company Bayer patents aspirin on March 6,
1899. Now the most common drug in household medicine
cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a
chemical found in the bark of willow trees.

Just before breakfast on the morning of March 4, Private
Albert Gitchell of the U.S. Army reports to the hospital at
Fort Riley, Kansas, complaining of the cold-like symptoms
of sore throat, fever and headache.

later known as Spanish flu. The flu would eventually kill
675,000 Americans and an estimated 20 million to 50
million people around the world, proving to be a far
deadlier force than even the First World War.

On February 23, 1954, a group of children from Arsenal
Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received
the first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by
Dr. Jonas Salk.

Thanks to the vaccine, by the 21st century polio cases
were reduced by 99 percent worldwide.

Though not as devastating as the plague or influenza,
poliomyelitis was a highly contagious disease that
emerged in terrifying outbreaks and seemed impossible
to stop.

The most famous victim of a 1921 outbreak in America
was future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then a
young politician. The disease spread quickly, leaving
his legs permanently paralyzed.

Jonas Edward Salk (October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)