EPISODE · Feb 28, 2019 · 8 MIN
Polio Is Nearly Wiped Out—Unless Some Lab Tech Screws Up
from Science, Spoken · host SpokenLayer
In 1979, a photographer named Janet Parker got a disease that wasn't supposed to exist anymore. At first she thought she had the flu, but then she kept getting sicker, got a rash, and went to the hospital, where doctors—in disbelief—diagnosed her with smallpox. Just a year earlier, the World Health Organization had declared that "mankind probably had seen its last case of smallpox," according to The New York Times. That should have been true. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
What this episode covers
In 1979, a photographer named Janet Parker got a disease that wasn't supposed to exist anymore. At first she thought she had the flu, but then she kept getting sicker, got a rash, and went to the hospital, where doctors—in disbelief—diagnosed her with smallpox. Just a year earlier, the World Health Organization had declared that "mankind probably had seen its last case of smallpox," according to The New York Times. That should have been true.
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Polio Is Nearly Wiped Out—Unless Some Lab Tech Screws Up
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