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History
TV-PG
American Experience

The Polio Crusade

American Experience, TV's most-watched history series, brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

The Polio Crusade

Season 21 Episode 2 | 52m 1s | CC

In the summer of 1950 Wytheville, VA realized the nation's worst medical fears. An outbreak of Infantile Paralysis, commonly known as Polio, swept through a small town of 5,500 in which 40 percent of residents had not yet reached their eighteenth birthday. Highly contagious, just in time for summer vacation, the devastating neurodegenerative disease had chosen its next target.

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Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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