Paralytic Poliomyelitis in Massachusetts, 1959

Abstract

IN 1959, 137 paralytic among 157 cases of poliomyelitis were reported in Massachusetts. This was the highest incidence of paralytic disease since inactivated-poliovirus vaccine became generally available, and the largest number in Massachusetts since 1955, when 2771 paralytic cases were reported.¹ The cases in 1959 were characterized by several additional features of interest. Nearly all were attributed to Type 3 poliovirus whereas Type 1 was most frequently responsible in the remainder of the nation. Altogether, they comprised the largest Type 3 poliovirus outbreak in the United States during 1959.² A remarkably high proportion, moreover, occurred in persons who had received . . .