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polio death of a San Antonian. His life experience closely parallels the Salk vaccine was introduced. New cases of polio were halved
Dr. Hargis; he attended the UT Austin and St. Mary’s University the following year and fell progressively as polio immunization be-
and graduated from the Baylor University College of Medicine in came a routine procedure. After 1980, scarcely a dozen cases per
Dallas. Dr. Matthews trained at St. Paul’s Hospital in Dallas and year were reported nationally, primarily as a rare consequence of
the Green. He then served as a major in the U.S. Army Medical the altered virus used in the oral Sabine vaccine. Consequently in
Corps in South America and returned to San Antonio to enter pri- 2000, the Center for Communicable Diseases recommended use
vate practice. He was survived by his wife and daughter. Subse- of the injected, killed vaccine, effectively eliminating the disease in
quently the case reports accelerated through the summer to reach our country. The San Antonio and American polio narratives have
118 patients. receded to history.
It seems likely these two promising young physicians on the Attention to this period was again heightened in 2010 by Philip
thresholds of their careers were exposed to the disease in the Roth’s riveting novel, Nemesis, concerning the polio epidemic
course of their professional duties and service at the newly re- which swept my birthplace, Newark, New Jersey, in the summer
opened County Hospital. We know that the virus spreads like wild- of 1944. Our stories capture the tragedy of unchecked polio in the
fire, and for many, the illness is no more than a cold, upset stomach pre-vaccine era. They recall the heroism and sacrifice of people at
or fever. No doubt they each saw one or more patients carrying the front line.
the polio virus. Both vividly demonstrate our shared vulnerabilities, Ultimately the stories are a testament to science prevailing and
but also underline the remarkable contributions of medical concluding a chapter in American medicine on a triumphant note.
progress. The summer outbreaks continued through 1955, when

28 San Antonio Medicine • September 2018