Polio Heading Towards Extinction!

This is so darn amazing.  If any of you know about polio and it's history, it was one of the most dreaded diseases of the 20th century - it killed thousands worldwide.  Our own 32nd President,  Franklin D. Roosevelt was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 39.  It may be a shock to some of you, but yes, I know my presidential history.  Hell, I just finished watching my History Channel DVD collection of The Presidents, and I loved it.  President Roosevelt hid his paralysis from the American public through the 12 years of his presidency, hence the reason everyone was shocked when the president died in 1945 - a few months after he was inaugurated to an unprecedented 4th term in office.

The disease was a horrible one, and children were dying by the thousands up until the 1950's.  A race went on for years to find a treatment, and eventually one was - by American medical researcher and virologist, Jonas Salk.  Since that time, countries have been eradicating the disease at an astronomical level, and this is why the chart down below is so darn amazing.  In 1988 there were still 125 countries where polio had never been stopped.  But by the year 2000, only 20 countries still had the disease, and by 2010 only 4 countries, Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan had reports of 240 cases at most. This is astonishing!  Within a year or two we could see the complete eradication of a disease that affected millions worldwide!

Now, let's hope and pray we can accomplish this with countless of other diseases as well.

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