Armstrong – Table of Contents

The people were taking the spraying program into their own hands, and the study
soon became a shambles. Paul DeKruif, by virtue of his position on the Research
Committee of the President’ Birthday Ball Commission was involved in the planning
discussions of the study and the distribution of funds through grants. He corresponded
and visited frequently with Armstrong about the program. He described the events
associated with the study in his usually florid style in his book “The Fight for Life.”(15)
There was no way that any kind of controls could be placed on the people in the epidemic
area. People overwhelmed the pharmacies with requests for the spraying solutions.
Spraying technique was randomly applied and irregular. Babies and seniors were
overlooked largely. Many people preferred to spray their own families rather than paying
the modest fees suggested for the procedure. In the interests of economy, many families
shared the same sprayers, usually hand-held nebulizers, and solutions, and they neglected
any pretense of sterilization of the equipment between the spraying of family members or
friends. The persons doing the spraying usually kept no records of when and with what
regularity they sprayed the recipients. The program as it developed was an
epidemiologist’s nightmare.
Despite the irregularities and deficiencies of the program, Armstrong still
attempted a survey and tried to obtain data about the persons who were sprayed and the
incidence of acute flaccid paralysis as an indication of infection with poliovirus. The only
control he could use was the incidence of paralysis in persons who were sprayed
compared with those who did not receive the spray. There was actually a slight decrease
in disease among those who received the spray but the difference was of dubious
significance; also the data did not indicate the amount and regularity of the spraying.