Disease in the 1930’s
“We should not give up, and we should not allow the problem to defeat us.” This was exclaimed by the former, 11th president of India, A.P.J Abdul Kalam. His words greatly illustrate the medicine and the disease of the 1930s, were a problem that people had to face. Because money was very scarce in this time period, diseases weren’t easily treated. However, this quote displays, doctors didn’t let the problem defeat them, and instead continued to push through diseases, which led to cures and vaccines. Throughout this decade, everyone had to persevere in order to get past the hardships that they were going through, as shown by the quote. Disease thrived, but people were able to succeed despite the difficulties that they had to overcome, perseverance being the key to their success. There had been many difficulties, which included diseases that had the potential to kill, and the small amounts of money only made situations worse. Despite these issues, people did not give up, and they didn’t let the issues in their life to defeat them. A few of the most disastrous diseases that had the largest threats on the people of the 1930s had been Polio, Syphilis and Pneumonia. These diseases affected the medical field greatly, as the low amount of money limited health care and made diseases disastrous. To begin, Polio had been one of the many, destructive diseases that had no cure in the time of the 1930s, causing fear amongst people, children and adults alike. It was a dreadful illness that troubled the nation, and caused many people, children and adults to become crippled. Polio, also known as Poliomyelitis caused an infinite paralysis, targeting a human’s nervous system. There had been very little known about the disease in the beginning of the 1930s, but doctors were slowly able to try and prevent it. Polio had a huge influence on the decade, as parents did their best to limit the chances of their children getting contaminated, and the disease eventually led to its cure. Because Polio could potentially kill, children had oftentimes been limited to public places in which the disease could thrive. As doctors couldn't yet identify the way that the contamination was spread, people limited their contact with others with the fear of dying or losing a loved one. The United States president, Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to encourage others that Polio would soon die down and find a cure by saying, “The only thing that we have to fear is fear itself.” He had said this, as the 1930s was filled with fear and disaster, caused by the infection. He had been diagnosed with Polio himself in his time and knew that everyone was greatly fearful of the deadly disease. The effects of Polio were disastrous and limited people, along with the president from doing various things, and spread fear through the land. Attempts to vaccinate people against the illness had backfired, causing more harm than good. People who were injected with the underdeveloped vaccine, developed a vaccine-associated Polio. (faqs.org 2) This caused a larger crisis, as the only hope that people had, backfired, causing more deaths and a larger threat. “Vaccine trials in 1935, using convalescent human serum, may actually have enhanced the risk of paralytic polio and may also have transmitted other virus diseases such as hepatitis.” (2) This is proving how the attempts to prevent and find a cure for Polio, only caused more issues to arise within the patients. As the catastrophic disease went on, the lives of people didn't stand much of a chance. The ongoing crisis was bad enough, and the small amount of money didn’t make the situation better. The lack of money limited the ways that people could get treated for Polio and this didn’t help doctors research the causes and ways to prevent the illness. The money deficiency causes a slower movement in preventing and treating Polio, but despite this, the knowledge of Polio slowly grew and improved, getting the 1930s further away from the despair and disaster of the diseases. Though the final breakthrough of Polio cures and treatments came much later on, it had left a huge impact on the 1930s, influencing the people and causing disaster as it swept through the decade. To continue, Syphilis and the Venereal Disease were one of the most destructive, STDs of the 1930s, raging with impunity through this time. Syphilis, is a horrible disease that has the power to invade a person’s body and strongly oppose many types of treatments that had been attempted. As stated by John Frith, “There were very few, and hardly effective methods to treat this STD, and the treatments that were used, often caused mercury poisoning in the patient.” (6) These diseases caused fear within people, as it was easily spread from person to person, striking about one out of every ten adults. (Wuebker 1) 70% of those who got infected with any one of these diseases would die, especially if the disease wasn’t spotted until severe symptoms were displayed. (Anderson 1) These diseases were especially frightening because people would go around, unharmed for a while after getting them before showing the actual symptoms. By then, it was already too late to do much to stop the destruction that it would cause. The topics of Syphilis and the Venereal Disease were often times put aside as they were STDs, but in the 1930s, information on them began to appear everywhere. (Wuebker 5) The public was told about what is was and how to avoid getting this disease after it became overly severe. In 1938, Congress passed the National Venereal Disease Control Act, meant to try and stop the spread. People began getting their blood tested, in order for doctors to spot the disease before it could get worse. (5) If the diseases began spreading, it was easier to get infected and so people would get tested to avoid the spread of fear. As people strived to get themselves tested for Syphilis and the Venereal Disease, poverty increased, as the medical bills piled up. Medication was scarce and treatment and tests for these diseases was hard to come by for those with limited money, as methods to treat these diseases were often times fairly expensive. Stereotypes began spreading about various races of people and their tendency to get the diseases or the ability to get tested for them. However, although both Syphilis and the Venereal Disease cause fear and turmoil within the 1930s, doctors were able to strongly combat the spread of them and were able to lessen the number of infections. Furthermore, Pneumonia swept the nation in the 1930s, causing fear and disaster within adults and children as it threatened the lives of many people. This disease is an infection of the lungs which caused coughing, fever, chills, muscle aches and difficulty breathing for those infected. It began a while before the 1930s, but within this time, it caused fear and destruction as it infected thousands of people. The dust throughout the decade had often times got into people's’ lungs and triggered the killer infection. As money and treatments were very limited, the people of this time rarely went to hospitals or visited doctors. This allowing the disease to spend a longer time untreated, giving it time to cause more harm before eventually leading to death. The the 1930s, Pneumonia caused large amounts of deaths and eventually grew so bad that it was the third leading cause of death. Pneumonia became a national issue, after it threatened to overwhelm the population. People feared being one of the many infected, and were wary of the effects that the Dust Bowl had on the spread of the illness. Pneumonia control programs were established throughout the decade, and the epidemic became a public health concern. There were very few treatments, and each one of those treatments was rarely effective, but when the anti-pneumococcal serotherapy was discovered, it was calculated that nearly 18,000 death per year could have been avoided. As stated by Roderic Heffron, a man who had to do with the study of Pneumonia, “Few if any diseases exact such a toll at the economic prime of life. It is therefore extremely fitting that in any consideration of public health some attention should be given to this disease.” (2) By saying this, Heffron is trying to show how much Pneumonia affected the normal life of a person, causing turmoil in the economy and life of those alive, along with how fitting it is that the infection was a public health concern. The amount of money that had to go into treatments and attempted vaccinations was absurd, especially because money was difficult to come by. Though there were limits on the use of the serum that Heffron found, nearly 1,000 patients were treated, around the year of 1935. (3) A lot of work and a lot of money was used to create the serum and many people couldn’t afford the treatment. Though by the end of the decade, the destruction that Pneumonia caused as it swept through the 1930s started to get better, still the disease caused despair and unease in those who lived in this time. All in all, the medical field highly suffered from the great depression, as the constrained amounts of money made healthcare difficult to come by and made diseases catastrophic. The main diseases that caused turmoil and disaster in the 1930s were Polio, Syphilis, The Venereal Disease and Pneumonia. These diseases caused large amounts of fear within the people of this time, and in few cases did they come to a complete cure within the decade. People were terrified of getting the diseases that dominated the decade, and often times took extreme measures to avoid obtaining them. Illnesses in this decade made the lives of people harder and cause more fear with the constant threat, seeming to hang over the heads of those alive. However, the people of the 1930s battled through the diseases and the constant threat of getting infected, and eventually found cures or methods to prevent the viruses from getting worse or spreading. As stated by Jesse Jackson, “If you fall behind, run faster, never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds.” The 1930s were full of downhill moments and destructive infections that threatened to kill everyone of the decade. However, people fought through the hardships, and rose up against all odds by continuing living and finding cures along with methods to prevent the illnesses that previously threatened to overpower the population. |
This is an image from 1938, showing the wife and children of an unemployed coal miner. It is shown that there is a rash on the wife's shins, likely caused by syphilis.
A group of medical technology students in the 1930s, attending the Loyla University of New Orleans.
Police and ordinary people alike, took extreme safety measures and wore masks on a daily basis to avoid contamination.
Those who needed immediate treatment were taken into hospitals, even with the small amounts of money. People were encouraged to wear masks and protect themselves against disease as much as possible.
This image displays a 1930's ambulance, used to transport the severely ill.
In attempts to eradicate Syphilis, signs or ads such as this were put out by the government. With not very subtle messages, the government encouraged people to get treated for this disease.
People in the 1930's were greatly encouraged to get treated or tested for various diseases, thriving in the time period.
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