The 1910 polio epidemic began in the Northeast and spread across the country. It primarily affected children and caused widespread fear and confusion. There were no reliable treatments, and desperate parents sometimes turned to unproven methods to help their children.
A number of odd and even dangerous treatments were suggested, including everything from prescribing vitamin C to administering electric shocks. Some children were injected with quinine and adrenaline.
The Bismarck Tribune ran an opinion piece intended to calm what the author viewed as a hysterical overreaction to the epidemic. The information came from a bulletin published by the National League for Medical Freedom. The article referred to the “infantile paralysis scare” as if it weren’t a serious threat and called it “a money maker for the medical profession.” The author questioned the sincerity of researchers developing a serum to cure the disease and claimed more polio victims “got well from careful nursing and fresh air” than from any other treatment.
On this date in 1910, the Tribune printed a rebuttal by Dr. W. H. Bodenstall. He called the opinion piece “a direct insult to the medical profession” and said it treated polio as a joke. He wrote that the author was either very ignorant or deliberately spreading false information.
Bodenstall asserted that, far from being a joke, polio had become one of the country’s most dreaded diseases. He noted growing support at both the state and national levels for a well-funded department of public health. Members of the National League for Medical Freedom, he said, opposed vaccines and lacked understanding of modern medicine.
The 1910 polio epidemic was followed by others in the 1940s and 1950s. These outbreaks had a major influence on the development of government health systems, increasing public awareness of the role government could play in preventing infectious diseases.
With federal support, Dr. Jonas Salk finally created an effective vaccine to prevent polio.
Today, the North Dakota Department of Health says: “Fast and easy access to relevant and current health information is a necessity that facilitates a positive and progressive mindset and encourages community-wide approaches to better health.”
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Bismarck Daily Tribune. “Infantile Paralysis is Called a Bugaboo.” Bismarck ND. 11/18/1910. Page 5.
- Bismarck Tribune. “Infantile Paralysis Called Dread Disease.” Bismarck ND. 11/20/1910. Page 5.
- National Library of Medicine. “Medical Treatments of Acute Paralysis in the 1916 New York Epidemic of Poliomyelitis.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4293735/Accessed 10/10/2025.
- North Dakota Health and Human Services. “Health and Human Services.” https://www.hhs.nd.gov/healthAccessed 10/10/2025.
