The 1957 Epidemic of Poliomyelitis in Belfast

D. S. DANE, B.A., M.B. (Cantab.), Lecturer in Microbiology, Queen's University, Belfast with MOYA BRIGGS, B.Sc., and R. T. NELSON, A.I.M.L.T. IN the summer and early autumn of 1957 there was an epidemic of type 1 poliomyelitis in Northern Ireland. The principle area involved was Belfast County Borough (population approximately 450,000), where there were 162 cases of acute poliomyelitis, of which 114 were paralysed, giving a paralytic attack rate of 25 per 100,000. Immunization against poliomyelitis was started in Belfast during May, 1957, but supplies of vaccine were limited, and by November, when the epidemic was over, only 1,523 children had completed the primary course of two injections.