The unique and virulent epidemic that erupted in Brooklyn in May-June 1916 has long been a fascinating mystery. A 2011 paper presents a plausible solution.  

By John Leake
Courageous Discourse  

April 24, 2026

Last year, when I was researching polio for our book Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality, I was struck by the uniqueness of a 1916 epidemic of paralytic polio in New York City. The disease broke out in what was then a poor neighborhood of Brooklyn, largely inhabited by recently arrived Italian immigrants.