Made in the 1950s as a public service announcement, NEEDLESS TRAGEDY shows the struggles of a polio patient. The film was intended to get Americans to start or finish their polio vaccination course, so as to eliminate the disease in the United States.
The film features footage of a man living with paralytic polio, shown in an iron lung at the 1:09 mark. At 2:30, a patient is seen in a wheelchair. The narration, spoken by the patient, discusses the psychological burden of living with this terrible disease on the patient and his family. “My own neglect put me in this wheelchair,” the man says. But you can avoid this fate through immunization.
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 that which the person had during the initial infection.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
