Friday Film (on Saturday) - Before the CCP Covid 19 Mess, the Fight Against Polio Virus

Background

Made by the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis, this film shows the war against Poliomyetis, and the introduction of the vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk. At this point the vaccine had not yet proven its effectiveness, and tests were ongoing. At the 1:39 mark, Immunoglobulin injections are shown, a stop-gap measure in fighting the disease. At 1:59, iron lungs are seen being used to treat respiratory patients, and later both rocking bed and chest ventilators are shown. At the 7 minute mark various rehabilitation of survivors of infant paralysis are shown, including use of braces and wheelchairs.

Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. In about 0.5% of cases there is muscle weakness resulting in an inability to move. This can occur over a few hours to few days. The weakness most often involves the legs but may less commonly involve the muscles of the head, neck and diaphragm. Many but not all people fully recover. In those with muscle weakness about 2% to 5% of children and 15% to 30% of adults die. Another 25% of people have minor symptoms such as fever and a sore throat and up to 5% have headache, neck stiffness and pains in the arms and legs. These people are usually back to normal within one or two weeks. In up to 70% of infections there are no symptoms. Years after recovery post-polio syndrome may occur, with a slow development of muscle weakness similar to what the person had during the initial infection.

Poliovirus is usually spread from person to person through infected feces entering the mouth. It may also be spread by food or water containing human feces and less commonly from infected saliva. Those who are infected may spread the disease for up to six weeks even if no symptoms are present. The disease may be diagnosed by finding the virus in the feces or detecting antibodies against it in the blood.

The disease is preventable with the polio vaccine; however, a number of doses are required for it to be effective. The United States Center for Disease Control recommends polio vaccination boosters for travelers and those who live in countries where the disease is occurring. Once infected there is no specific treatment. In 2013 polio affected 416 people down from 350,000 cases in 1988. In 2014 the disease was only spreading between people in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. In 2015 Nigeria had stopped the spread of wild poliovirus.

Poliomyelitis has existed for thousands of years, with depictions of the disease in ancient art. The disease was first recognized as a distinct condition by Michael Underwood in 1789 and the virus that causes it was first identified in 1908 by Karl Landsteiner. Major outbreaks started to occur in the late 19th century in Europe and the United States. In the 20th century it became one of the most worrying childhood diseases in these areas. The first polio vaccine was developed in the 1950s by Jonas Salk. It is hoped that vaccination efforts and early detection of cases will result in global eradication of the disease by 2018. In 2013; however, there were reports of new cases in Syria and in May 2014, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern due to outbreaks of the disease in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The disease does not naturally occur in any other animals

Friday Films: Battle of Midway and D-Day

History anniversaries:

Friday Film: U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (1959) and 2012

Friday Fun Film: "Meet the Fleet"

"Is that the Pacific Ocean?"

Yep, you aren't in Kansas.

And so forth.



Say, is that the Superman of my youth in ranks?


For an interesting look at the U.S.Navy in 1915, take a look here.

Friday Fun Film: "Getting Ready Physically"

Advice on getting fit to go fight one "police action" or another. Another classic Coronet film from the olden days when the AV club members had to know how to thread film (a skill, I might add, that many young surface officers found useful later in life).

Friday Fun Film: History of the U.S. Navy 1815 - 1860

Forty-five years of U.S. Navy history - protecting sea lanes, fighting pirates, anti-slavery patrols, setting up trade with countries in Asia, enforcing the Monroe Doctrine, steam engineering, screw-driven ships, new guns, U.S. Exploring Expedition, the Naval Observatory, founding of the Naval Academy, the Mexican War amphibious operations, soft power with Japan - just a boring little period, "making the world safe for American commerce."




"Annoy the enemy!"

Friday Fun Film: Missile Might

Raw power!

Missiles!

Drones!

Other stuff!




From 1962.

The "Sparrow" missile's grandchildren are still around though they are being phased out.

UPDATE: Playback may hang up after 10 minutes or so. Don't panic. You can safely close it and go about you normal activities, knowing that the biggest things we worried about in 1962 haven't happened yet . . . of course, there have been a few other things . . .

Or, perhaps, this is better:

Friday Fun Film: U.S. Navy in China - The Yangtze River Force

Shades of the Sand Pebbles.

Mid-1930's on the Yangtze River Patrol:



Described here as:

This rare film features ships of the U.S. Asiatic fleet patrolling the Yangtze River. The Asiatic Fleet's gunboats were tasked with protecting American shipping (primarily oil tankers) from pirates and the Japanese. Contains amazing footage of life in China circa 1935 including the cities of Chunking, Shanghai, and the countryside. Ships featured in this film are the USS Augusta (CA-31), USS Borie (DD-215) and USS Simpson (DD-221) as well as US gunboats.

Friday Fun Film: The Before WWII Navy

 The U.S. Fleet before Pearl Harbor - early 1941:

Friday Fun Film: "The Small Boat Navy"

Raymond Burr narrates the story of river warfare and coastal surveillance in an earlier war:




Everything old is new again.

Friday Fun Film: "Report from the Aleutians"

WWII morale film Report from the Aleutians : John Huston:

Friday Fun: Old School Films

How do you learn to do things for yourself? One of those films they used to show us back in the old days (yes, with - gasp- a projector) when a teacher took ill and there was no ready substitute.



You can read Emerson's Self-Reliance here.

And, of course, some guy writing a counter-essay for the NY Times critical of Emerson at The Foul Reign of Emerson’s ‘Self-Reliance’. Some fun stuff in the comments section.

*Yes, I fixed the typo in the post header.