Poliomyelitis in Argentina

In the summer of 1956, Argentina was shocked by the expansion of an infectious and terrible disease called Poliomyelitis and known as polio or infantile paralysis. Polio affects the central nervous system, preferentially infecting and destroying motor neurons, leading to flaccid paralysis, muscle weakness and sometimes to deformity.

6000 children got polio in Argentina and the disease spread to all provinces, with the exception of Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego. Argentines were terrified and still remember with sadness that summer. There had been an outbreak of Poliomyelitis in Argentina in 1943, but the one of 1956 was much more terrible.

Polio affected the argentine children between 1 and 15 years. There were various symptoms such as fever, diarrhea and dyspnea but the consequences were the same: paralysis and disability.

It also affected all social classes, but especially the middle and upper class. To attack the disease, the authorities developed sanitation tasks: they eliminated the vacant lots and most of the trees were painted white. The epidemic was eradicated thanks to the vaccine.

The first polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk. It was tested in 1952 and was released in 1955. The second vaccine was an oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin. These two vaccines eradicated polio from most countries in the world.

However, in Argentina, there was an outbreak in 1961 and some cases were registered in the late 70s and early 80s. The last case of polio was reported in May 1984 and so it was considered eradicated in the country.

In the American continent polio was eradicated in 1991. The last case occurred in Peru. Only four countries in the world remain polio-endemic. These countries are India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The problem is not the lack of vaccines; the real enemy of polio is war, because it stops vaccination campaigns.