We had a lot more virus diseases to worry about in 1962 than COVID! Most viral diseases did not have vaccines yet, and some ravaged the whole world. Read more...

1. Polio, Measles, Influenza, and More –
1962 Had More Problems than a COVID Epidemic
By Donald Dale Milne
https://www.roadtrip62.com/polio-measles-influenza-and-more-1962-had-more-problems-than-a-COVID-epidemic.htm
So 2020 is the year of the Coronavirus, but 1962 had its share of virus problems too. Roadtrip-‘62 ™ will take a look at them, ranging from the most
dangerous, polio, to chicken pox. New viruses were being discovered and studied by electron microscopy in the early 1960s, but there was no way to classify
them for study. Several scientists suggested a comprehensive scheme for classifying all viruses in 1962, based on the long-accepted system of classifying plants
and animals. This resulted in viruses being classified by family, genus, and species, giving us groupings such as coronaviruses, rhinoviruses, and enteroviruses.
Virus information poster for display at pharmacies in 1962 (Photo from an online auction.)

2. The development of vaccines is one of the most important advancements in medicine. And a 1962 breakthrough in vaccine development is now
estimated to have prevented over 4.5 billion cases of disease and saved 10 million lives. Prior to then, many cell cultures for growing vaccines had been grown
in monkey cells, but these sometimes became contaminated with potentially dangerous monkey viruses. In 1962, Leonard Hayflick and Paul Moorhead isolated
a clean cell strain from an aborted human fetus, which, along with its derivatives, is now the standard used in production of more than 10 disease vaccines.
Interestingly, the source is one of the arguments used by anti-vaccing proponents, who largely also believe abortions are evil. It is ironic that the very people
who deny protection to their children are healthy or alive today because they were vaccinated.
Polio
Poliomyelitis, also called polio or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by a virus that can result in paralysis or death. It primarily strikes
children. During the 1950s, approximately 38,000 cases were reported in the United States each year. Dr. James Luby, who was an infectious diseases specialist
and professor at UT Southwestern, noted that, “Polio was the biggest public health problem in the United States at midcentury. It was fortunate that the vaccine
came along in 1955.” That year, Dr. Jonas Salk developed a dead polio virus that could be used to vaccinate people and vaccinations began immediately. A few
years later, in 1961, Dr. Albert Sabin developed an oral version, using a live virus weakened in the laboratory, that proved more effective, easier to administer,
and provided longer-lasting immunization. Again, vaccinations began immediately but on an even larger scale. The method of administering the oral vaccine
helped ensure its success, especially with children, as it was dripped onto sugar cubes that were swallowed. In the Cleveland, Ohio area, approximately 1.5
million people received the vaccine.
Children taking Salk vaccine, ca. 1963 (Photo for educational purposes from Hauck Center for the Albert B. Sabin Archives, Henry R. Winkler Center for the
History of the Health Professions, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, see https://sites.libraries.uc.edu/sabin/archives .)

3. Perhaps the most massive vaccination campaign in the country in 1962 was in the Dallas, Texas area. Dallas County determined to get every man,
woman and child the necessary doses in one sweeping effort by using area schools and calling the people in at once. The mass immunizations were scheduled for
two summer Sundays in a row so that those who couldn’t make it the first Sunday had another chance. It was a peacetime mobilization that required a mutual
trust among government officials, the public and the medical community of a kind we could never see today. Over 4,500 people volunteered to help organize
things! At least 500 cars on loan from new car dealers cruised Dallas neighborhoods to give free rides to the vaccination sites! The event was amazingly
successful: out of a population of nearly 1 million in Dallas County, 590,000 residents received vaccine on the first Sunday, with a final number of around
950,000! I strongly suspect that if we get a vaccine in 2020 or 2021 for COVID-19, we will not be anywhere near as successful. The disease virtually
disappeared here by 1979 and today, polio is one of the routine immunizations given to children in the United States.
And after similar massive efforts in Nigeria and Somalia, in August 2020, the entire continent of Africa was declared free of wild cases of polio! The
vaccination campaign in Nigeria involved a heroic effort to reach remote places. In places under threat from militant violence, some health workers were even
killed in the process. Only Afghanistan and Pakistan still suffer from natural polio cases.
Measles
Measles was still a real concern as a health problem for children in 1962. My whole family of 6 kids had various strains of measles in the years around
1962, though fortunately without any long-term consequence. But from 1958 to 1962, the US averaged 432 deaths associated with measles each year, so it could
be a serious disease. And virtually all children acquired measles at that time, so the number of measles cases is estimated to have been 3.5 to 5 million per year.
The low number of deaths was a result of antibiotics to treat complications, modern sanitation methods, and improved nutrition, compared to earlier times. In
Hawaii, their first outbreak in 1848 killed up to a third of the population! By 1958, a live virus measles vaccine was tested, but the virus in the vaccine wasn’t
weak enough. Most children developed high fevers and rashes similar to mild measles. Researchers came up with a way to grow the vaccine safely in eggs and
administer the vaccine with a simultaneous shot of measles antibodies. This reduced side effects and the new vaccine was licensed by the FDA in March, 1963.
Though measles was finally eliminated in 2000, meeting the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) definition of an absence of continuous transmission for
12 months or more, it has since experienced a small resurgence. In 2019, the CDC reported 69 cases; the highest since 1994, when 958 cases were reported.
They believe the current anti-vaccing sentiments among parts of the public are a significant factor contributing to the outbreaks. HHS Secretary Alex Azar notes,
"The suffering we are seeing is avoidable. The measles vaccines are among the most extensively studied medical products we have, and their safety has been
firmly established over many years in some of the largest vaccine studies ever undertaken."

4. Doctor giving a measles vaccination to a young boy at Fernbank School in Atlanta, Georgia, 1962
(Public domain photo from Centers for Disease Control /Smith Collection.)
Rubella
This disease is also known as German Measles and it was particularly dangerous to unborn babies. From 1962 to 1965, a global pandemic wreaked
havoc on fetuses, causing miscarriages and birth defects. Work on a vaccine was in progress, but one would not become available until 1969. Congenital rubella
syndrome is contracted when the pregnant woman has rubella and it causes deafness, blindness, heart conditions, intellectual impairment, and even miscarriages
for up to 85 percent of babies with the syndrome. Though the fear of rubella has largely faded from public memory, the recent zika virus has had a similar
impact in areas where it is a problem. The zika virus appears to cause microcephaly, a birth defect where a baby is born with an abnormally small head and is
often disabled. There is no vaccine for Zika and researchers believe it may take up to a decade to create one.

5. Anti-Rubella button from early 1960s campaign (Photo from an online auction)
Smallpox
Though the last smallpox cases in Canada and the US were seen in the 1940s, an outbreak nearly occurred in 1962. In mid-August, a family returned
from Brazil to Toronto, Canada and their 14-year old boy felt ill and had developed the first characteristic pockmarks of smallpox on his face. Three days later a
diagnosis of smallpox was confirmed and a desperate effort to prevent a potential smallpox epidemic began. An international effort to track down and vaccinate
all of Jimmie’s possible contacts was undertaken. Other countries realized the danger due to this and other events. Wales, Great Britain suffered an outbreak that
saw 19 people die when a traveler from Pakistan was diagnosed with smallpox in 1962. They vaccinated 900,000 that year and Ireland decided to do the same,
using local druggists to perform the task. The rest of the world soon stepped up efforts and the World Health Organization oversaw an intensive vaccination plan
to eradicate smallpox. The last natural case occured in Somalia in 1977. Smallpox was declared eradicated from nature in 1980.

6. Chicken Pox
I had chicken pox, probably a couple of years before 1962. There was no vaccine for this either in 1962, as it is made in cells replicated from the lungs
of a fetus aborted in London in 1966. As I had mentioned previously, many vaccines are grown on cells replicated from aborted fetuses. The only vaccine for
rubella is made from replicated cells from the lungs of a fetus aborted in Sweden in 1962. The chickenpox vaccine has been widely available since 1995, and the
death rate of chicken pox and its related disease shingles has dropped 94 percent. Also as I mentioned previously, this source is one of the arguments used by
anti-vaccing proponents, who largely also believe abortions are evil. Partly as a consequence of this, chicken pox is making a comeback in the United States. In
2020, an outbreak raged through a Catholic school in Kentucky, infecting over 30 students.
Mumps
Cases of mumps have dropped by 99% in the United States since the introduction of a vaccine in 1967. Though I had both chicken pox and measles, I
never had mumps as a kid. The disease usually has mild symptoms of a low-grade fever and respiratory problems. Its most obvious symptom, a swelling of the
salivary glands below the ear, is only present in about 30-40% of cases. Unlike measles and rubella, however, mumps has not been eliminated in the United
States. Recent large outbreaks have occurred among college students in 2006 and in a tradition-observant Jewish community in 2009. Since 1971, the mumps
vaccine is administered in combination with measles and rubella vaccines as the MMR vaccine. The rubella component was changed in 1979, but in the United
States the other components have remained the same since 1971.
History of West Nile Virus (Slide from paper by Dalhatu Saidu, Kursk State Medical University, 2014, see https://www.slideshare.net/deeboi24/viral-
encephalities . )

7. Enterovirus
Enterovirus was discovered in 1962 in four children in California. It produces rather mundane symptoms of fever, coughing and sneezing, as well as
body and muscle aches. It also occasionally has more serious symptoms such as difficulty breathing. But it is related to polio and known for its tendency to
affect children and teenagers. Because it largely disappeared without doing much damage, no vaccine was developed. However, enterovirus bounced back in
2014, killing four people in the United States. Another 38 cases were recorded in the United Kingdom. This and the slide above show that viruses can hang
around in the environment for a long time and perhaps we should monitor them more closely. One wonders what the current COVID situation would look like if
China would have been more careful, and what future problems we are ignoring now.
Influenza
First, just what is influenza, or the flu? We have traditionally used the name for several different and even unrelated afflictions. Influenza is a
respiratory infection that causes symptoms similar to, but more severe than, the common cold. Flu symptoms can include fever, cough, runny or stuffy nose and
severe malaise. Probably because the flu can also sometimes cause vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, we often confuse it with a stomach or intestinal disease. Most
people recover from influenza within 2 weeks without medical treatment, but sometimes causes serious complications, including pneumonia, bronchitis and sinus
and ear infections. During recent years in the United States, between 12,000 and 56,000 people have died annually from the flu and its complications,
particularly pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Actually, the CDC and many states bundle disease statistics for the flu
together with pneumonia because the clinical diagnosis of influenza on an individual basis is often difficult. This makes it difficult to determine just how
dangerous the flu is.
Researchers first isolated the virus that causes flu from pigs in 1931, and from humans in 1933. Four types of the virus exist: A and B, which are
responsible for seasonal flu epidemics in people; C, which is relatively rare, causes a mild respiratory illness, and is not thought to cause epidemics; and D, which
primarily infects cattle and isn’t known to affect people. Influenza A virus also infects birds, swine, horses, and other animals, giving rise to the names popular
for flue epidemics in recent years such as Swine Flu and Avian Flu. Influenza is a constantly evolving virus, mutating the properties of its H and N antigens.
Due to these changes, acquiring immunity to a subtype such as H1N1 one year will not necessarily mean a person is immune to a slightly different virus in later
years. This changing nature has made vaccination difficult, as scientists “guess” what strain to produce vaccines against in any given year. Some years, the
vaccine has been less than 50% effective. Also, they have begun to package several vaccines together, to protect against different virus strains at the same time.
Despite a quadrivalent flu vaccine in 2012 protecting against four different strains, the effectiveness is low. The 2004–2005 vaccine was only 10 percent effective
in the United States, while the 2018–2019 flu vaccine was 29 percent effective against Influenza A and B and 44 percent effective in preventing influenza A
(H1N1) viruses.

8. Vial of Influenza Virus Vaccine, Type A, Asian 57, Formalin-Inactivated, Connaught Laboratories, 1957.
(Photo from Sanofi Pasteur Canada Archives)
If you’re interested, you can read more about Medical Progress in 1962 at this Roadtrip-‘62 ™ page: https://www.roadtrip62.com/medical-progress-in-
1962.htm . I’m not waiting around for a COVID vaccine but will be back on the road next week. That’s the real road, not the virtual road! This review has
shown me that things were far worse in the past, but note that people still traveled and businesses did not shut down. Given the variety of viruses and history of
vaccines, at some point you just have to take your chances. I hope you all stay well, whether you travel or stay home!

9. Bayer Aspirin ad, focusing on cold and flu relief (Ad from 1962 magazine)

10. Visit ROADTRIP-'62 ™ ( https://www.roadtrip62.com/index.htm )for more articles.
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Author of Roadtrip-'62TM ( https://www.roadtrip62.com/ ), Donald Dale Milne
If you haven’t heard of nor Roadtrip-'62 ™ , my name is Don Milne and I'll be your travel guide on this virtual tour of the U. S. of A. First, I suppose
you're wondering why nor Roadtrip-'62 ™ is different from other travel sites? There's a very simple answer: everybody else travels only in space, but we also
travel in time! That's right, we don't just go somewhere, we also go somewhen. And the when is 1962. We'll try to see what's left today from 1962, by driving as
if it were 1962. We will drive on highways as they were in 1962, try to eat only at restaurants that existed in 1962, try to stay only at motels that existed in 1962,
try to buy gas and sundries, play the music, see only the sites across America, and just generally live in America as it was in 1962!
What we will do is enjoy the FUN of cross-country driving. And the fun of cross-country travel is all the differences from our everyday life! We'll talk
about politics, food, great inventions, how people lived, television, and more. We'll get to see some of the people that made our history; that made this country
great. We'll stumble across unexpected pleasures, like one trip I made through Cherokee, North Carolina where I just happened to be in town as the 1996
Olympic Torch procession came through on it's way to Atlanta, Georgia. You really never know what you'll find when you travel!

11. 1962-style US-23 signs
Now, let's see where we'll be going! We're going to drive the US-numbered routes of 1962. Because we'll be using the roads of 1962, that means we
won't be on freeways very much. There weren't many freeways in 1962, as the country had just begun building the Interstate system,, so we'll travel mostly the
two-lanes through every little town on the way. Sometimes even where there was a freeway, I'll go back on the old road just to see what was there. Anyway, even
if there was a freeway in 1962, it was only there for a couple of years and things had not changed much. Sometimes a "business route" ran through a town on the
old route, because there were no services at the freeway interchanges yet.
Just in case you're asking why 1962, it's because I remember 1962. I traveled on my first freeway as a boy with my dad about that time, and fell in love
with both travel and freeways. But, besides my own memories and the fact that it was a time largely before interstate freeways, 1962 is just cool...wait and see!
And I'm writing this virtual tour just because I like to drive. I like to go places, see things, and just drive for the joy of driving! I decided I want to talk about it, to
share the fun with others. I'll be doing the driving on our Roadtrip-'62 ™, but if you see anything you like, I encourage you to get out on the road and enjoy it in
person. This virtual roadtrip may be fun, but there's nothing like the real thing!