The history of poliomyelitis shows that the first time this disease occurred was in ancient Egypt, around 6,000 years ago. Archaeologists found deformed limbs in mummies and this proved to them that most probably polio existed during those times, and possibly even before that. There is even a plaque showing an Egyptian priest, Ruma, having a emaciated leg along with an equinus foot. This most probably was a depiction of the priest suffering from poliomyelitis. (See Reference 1)

During the Middle Ages, painter Pieter Bruegel painted a crippled beggar. While the beggar may not have been suffering from poliomyelitis, the disease probably existed in England during that time. (See Reference 1)

The first time a description of the disease was given in the 18th century, in the year 1789, by Underwood; and the first epidemic of the disease occurred in the 19th century, in the year 1834, in St Helena. (See Reference 1) Then, in the year 1855, Duchenne described the pathological process of the disease by stating that the spinal cord's anterior horn cells were involved in the process. (See Reference 1) In the 20th century, in the year 1908, Landsteiner got infected by polio after getting it from a monkey. However, not much was done to find out more about the pathogen causing the disease until the year 1949 when the virus was cultivated in a lab on a tissue culture. This led to more research and scientists managed to identify as well as isolate 3 types of poliomyelitis virus in the year 1951. (See Reference 1)

This led to scientists looking for a cure for the virus strains and the first large scale polio vaccine clinical trial by Jonas Salk occurred in the year 1951. The trial made use of dead virus to inoculate people. Later, in the year 1958, live attenuated virus was given orally and was recommended for general use. This vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin. (See Reference 1) The live attenuated vaccine is still being used today by governments in countries where poliomyelitis is still prevalent.

It has been seen that many developing countries were and are still struggling to immunize people against polio. Unfortunately, the only way to ensure that polio is prevented is by ensuring that kids are immunized against the virus. Hence, the virus can be eradicated if world wide campaigns are undertaken, especially in countries where the virus is still active and prevalent. (See Reference 1)

Only kids in developed countries have been immunized against polio virus, but there is concern that even these countries may not be able to keep out the disease for too long as general population do not view vaccinations favorably. (See Reference 1) Today, healthcare professionals are worried that new cases of poliomyelitis are occurring every year in tropical as well as sub-tropical countries, and this could spread the virus to North America and Europe if vaccination campaigns are not taken seriously. While in developed nations the incidence of the disease is 1 person in every 100; in developing nations there is no concrete evidence of the number of cases that occur annually. The number supplied by the WHO most probably reflects just a tiny fraction of cases in developing nations. (See Reference 1)

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