1916

In June, polio epidemic erupts in NYC, begins in Brooklyn, paralyzing over 8,000 and killing 2,400, mostly children under ten. Polio typically kills 5% of its victims; this epidemic killed 27%. NYC Health Commissioner Haven Emerson blamed epidemic on unclean Italian immigrants, and employs quarantine and heightened sanitation, which failed to control spread (Offit, chap 1).