Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.JONAS SALK: Virologist
How many cases make an epidemic? Survivors of the great polio plagues of the 1940s and '50s will never believe that in the U.S. the average toll in those years was "only" 1 victim out of every 5,000 people. Was that really all it took to scare the nation out of its wits, sending families scurrying in all directions--to the mountains, to the desert, to Europe--in vain hope of sanctuary.
Perhaps polio's other name, infantile paralysis, had something to do with it. Images of babies in wheelchairs and tots on crutches tend to skew one's perception. And just in case...
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