Throughout most of human history, polio has caused paralysis and death. Often found in wet areas, the virus is most acute in cities during summer months. The virus inflames nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis and can be passed through contact with contaminated feces or oral secretion. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, paralytic poliomyelitis was perhaps the most feared disease in the nation. In 1950 alone, 33,300 people were stricken. In its widespread impact and public awareness, polio bears a striking resemblance to AIDS.

President Franklin Roosevelt, who had been struck by a form of polio in 1921 and left unable to use his legs, declared a War on Polio, and developing a vaccine became a national priority in the 1930s. While he took an active role in getting the leg braces, iron lungs, and other hardware for Polio treatment to all communities in the 1930s...