Némesis (2010): la epidemia de polio en una comunidad judía en Estados Unidos durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial

Abstract

During the United States’ polio epidemic during World War II, the experience of the epidemic is told from the point of view of a young gymnastics teacher in a Jewish community. Throughout the article we describe the main aspects of the epidemic. First, we talk about the characteristics that occur at the beginning of an epidemic, when you try to call to calm and remember past illnesses. It then discusses the origin of the epidemic, the causes that are being addressed and the racist biases that may emerge. We also talk about the role of the doctor as a source of knowledge and as a humanizing agent of the disease. We talk about the government and the population measures that are taken and the proportionality of them, opening the debate on how long it is responsible to paralyze daily life to control a disease. Finally, we talk about the treatment of polio, the great physical and psychological consequences and the situation of polio today. Without any doubt, polio has been an exemplary epidemic in terms of how to fight a common threat together. Knowing its history can give us tools to confront new epidemics such as COVID-19.