Polio Epidemic

The NYPR Archive Collections | Jan 1, 2000

The exact date of this episode is unknown. We've filled in the date above with a placeholder. What we actually have on record is: 1949-08-uu.

This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

Report on mild Polio outbreak in New York City from Willard Parker Hospital. Interview with Dr. Marcus D Kogel. Discuss urgent need for nurses. Board of Estimate has approved high salary for nurses in polio wards.

152 patients under treatment, 145 are result of current outbreak. Most are in Kingston Ave. Hospital in Brooklyn (59 patients), followed by Willard Parker Hospital (46 patients), then Queens General (38 patients). Dr. Kogel provides general guidelines for prevention, laments the lack of a vaccination.

Dr. Dorothea Talley describes the symptoms associated with the onset of polio, discusses recovery rates and the tendency for this to be a "young person's disease"


Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection


WNYC archives id: 69555
Municipal archives id: LT760

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