Tag: poliomyelitis
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The history of polio and cigarettes, and the need for a COVID-19 vaccine mandate
Daniel Gelfman Indianapolis, Indiana, United States Polio Vaccine and Fundraising Matchbook. Photograph at the Science History Institute, Philadelphia. Photo Credit: Daniel Gelfman, July 3, 2021. Depicted in this display (Picture 1) at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia are technologic marvels. The first is a box that contained early vials of Dr. Salk’s formalin…
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W.W. Keen: Physician to the presidents
Kevin R. Loughlin Boston, Massachusetts, United States Figure 1. The cheek retractor used in Cleveland’s operation. From The surgical operations on President Cleveland in 1893 by W. W. Keen. 1917. Via the Internet Archive. William Williams Keen served in the American Civil War and was present at the first and second Battle of Bull…
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The last iron lungs
Charles HalstedDavis, California, United States In the springtime of my internship year, I rotated onto the polio ward where I learned that poliomyelitis could kill by paralyzing the muscles of breathing. Eight years before, Salk had shown that injection of his vaccine of inactive virus could prevent polio about half the time. By nineteen sixty,…
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Derek Ernest Denny-Brown
JMS Pearce Hull, England Figure 1: Image in the public domain. Credit: The National Library of Medicine. Source Amongst the titans of medicine, it is not easy to pick out those whose footprints will not fade with passing time. Derek Denny-Brown (Fig 1) was one. He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. After his…
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Phillipe Gaucher (1854-1918)
Philippe Charles Ernest Gaucher. Via Wikimedia. In the days when syphilis was rampant in Europe and diagnostic modalities few, many unrelated medical conditions were erroneously attributed to it. There was, for example, the distinguished professor of syphilology and dermatology at the Hôpital Saint-Antoine and the University of Paris, who “aggressively promoted” the idea that poliomyelitis…
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Karl Landsteiner and the discovery of blood groups
Safia BenaissaMostganem, Algeria Karl Landsteiner was the Austrian scientist who recognized that humans had different blood groups and made it possible for physicians to transfuse blood safely. He entered medical school at the University of Vienna, where he developed an interest in chemistry. After taking off a year to complete his military service he returned…
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Wyeth and the symbolism of immobility
Kierstin UtterDetroit, Michigan, United StatesKyle UtterNew York, New York, United States Andrew Wyeth completed his most iconic work, Christina’s World, in 1948. The painting came at a critical time, when post-World War II everyday Americans were beginning to purchase mass-produced automobiles. The ability to quickly move from city to suburbs was gaining paramount importance. Life…
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Women changing medicine
Lesley CampbellDarlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia This is my account of three generations of women doctors in my family who in different times and different places were subjected to persecution or at least discrimination because of their race, religion, and gender. The account is written in the hope that society in general and medicine in…
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Wounded deer—Medical aspects of the life of Frida Kahlo
Farrah JawadLondon, UK “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” — Frida Kahlo Frida Kahlo was born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderon in Coyocan, Mexico City, on July 6, 1907, to Matilde Calderon y Gonzalez, a woman of mixed Spanish and Mexican heritage, and…