As society continues to benefit from the advances of medical science, people sometimes tend to downplay or forget the devastation that previously uncontrolled diseases visited on the world. One of the most devastating diseases the United States encountered in modern history was Polio. For years people vaccinated their children against the disease without question, however recent decades has seen an increase in the number of parents opting out of vaccinations for their children. Polio in the US was eradicated because of vaccines, and it is important to maintain such protocol to prevent it from coming back into existence.
             Polio is a disease that is contagious and present with a range of symptoms, from none at all, all the way to lifelong paralysis of limbs.
             It was most prevalent in the United States during the first half of the 1900's.
             "At the height of the polio epidemic in 1952, nearly 60,000 cases with more than 3,000 deaths were reported in the United States alone. However, with widespread vaccination, wild-type polio, or polio occurring through natural infection, was eliminated from the United States by 1979 and the Western hemisphere by 1991(Polio http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/polio.html)."
             Polio is a virus that causes no symptoms in about 95 percent of the cases, however, in a small percentage of cases it creates serious and at times life threatening problems.
             The mild version produces flu-like symptoms with sore throats, fever and an overall feeling of being sick. The next level is one which is associated with meningitis and causes stiff neck and sensitivity to light.
             The most serious form of Polio is called paralytic Polio and causes muscle paralysis and can cause death.
             The first two types are easily recovered from, while the third version of the disease suffer from serious symptoms that can be life threatening(Polio http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/b...