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Author puts human face on polio victims
By Mark Lardas
Correspondent
Published November 8, 2009
“The Polio Years In Texas: Battling a Terrifying Unknown,” by Heather Green Wooten, Texas A&M University Press, 248 pages, $19.95.
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Poliomyelitis — or polio, as the name was shortened for headlines — was the terror of the mid-20th century.
No one understood how it was spread, or why a historically mild disease suddenly turned into a killer.
What was known was that otherwise healthy individuals — generally children or young adults — would seemingly suffer a mild case of flu and then find themselves paralyzed.
Texas was on the front lines when it came to polio. Thirty-three major outbreaks occurred in Texas between 1937 and 1955.
The Texas response to the threat was Texas-sized. Within the two poles of disease and response lies a fascinating story — if the story is done right.
Heather Green Wooten, a League City resident, looks at Texas and polio in her new book, “The Polio Years In Texas.” Her book is a striking example of local history done right.
Wooten traces the arc of the disease. She shows how polio attacks, why it became a major threat only in the 20th century, and its progress through Texas.
She also outlines how Texas mobilized to fight the disease, and compares the Texas efforts with national efforts. She also follows the lives of those afflicted by polio — not just those suffering the disease, but their families as well.
The book is fascinating on many levels. President Franklin Roosevelt plays a central part of the early efforts against polio due in part to his having suffered from the disease.
Roosevelt’s influence had a dark side. By creating the illusion that he had recovered far more than he had, Roosevelt convinced many that near-total recovery was possible when it was not.
One interesting aspect of Texas’s response to polio was that the disease broke down color lines. Wooten shows that, unlike much of the rest of the nation, Texas treatment centers were largely integrated, even during the 1930s.
Texas medical researchers also played a role in conquering the disease. The University of Texas Medical Branch established the first virus research laboratories in the southwest.
Wooten credits medical branch researcher Ardroozny Packchanian with finding a laboratory animal in which the virus could be studied.
Yet, the book’s best quality is its ability to put a human face on the suffering. She uses the experiences of polio sufferers to show what it was like to have polio and to battle back from it.
Today, polio is a memory. “The Polio Years in Texas” reminds us of what the disease meant and how it was overcome.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, amateur historian and model-maker, lives in League City.
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