<P> The fear and the collective response to these epidemics would give rise to extraordinary public reaction and mobilization; spurring the development of new methods to prevent and treat the disease, and revolutionizing medical philanthropy . Although the development of two polio vaccines has eliminated poliomyelitis in all but two countries, the legacy of poliomyelitis remains, in the development of modern rehabilitation therapy, and in the rise of disability rights movements worldwide . </P> <P> Ancient Egyptian paintings and carvings depict otherwise healthy people with withered limbs, and children walking with canes at a young age . It is theorized that the Roman Emperor Claudius was stricken as a child, and this caused him to walk with a limp for the rest of his life . Perhaps the earliest recorded case of poliomyelitis is that of Sir Walter Scott . In 1773 Scott was said to have developed "a severe teething fever which deprived him of the power of his right leg". At the time, polio was not known to medicine . A retrospective diagnosis of polio is considered to be strong due to the detailed account Scott later made, and the resultant lameness of his left leg had an important effect on his life and writing . </P> <P> The symptoms of poliomyelitis have been described by many names . In the early nineteenth century the disease was known variously as: Dental Paralysis, Infantile Spinal Paralysis, Essential Paralysis of Children, Regressive Paralysis, Myelitis of the Anterior Horns, Tephromyelitis (from the Greek tephros, meaning "ash - gray") and Paralysis of the Morning . In 1789 the first clinical description of poliomyelitis was provided by the British physician Michael Underwood--he refers to polio as "a debility of the lower extremities". The first medical report on poliomyelitis was by Jakob Heine, in 1840; he called the disease Lähmungszustände der unteren Extremitäten ("Paralysis of the lower Extremities"). Karl Oskar Medin was the first to empirically study a poliomyelitis epidemic in 1890 . This work, and the prior classification by Heine, led to the disease being known as Heine - Medin disease . </P> <P> Major polio epidemics were unknown before the 20th century; localized paralytic polio epidemics began to appear in Europe and the United States around 1900 . The first report of multiple polio cases was published in 1843 and described an 1841 outbreak in Louisiana . A fifty - year gap occurs before the next U.S. report--a cluster of 26 cases in Boston in 1893 . The first recognized U.S. polio epidemic occurred the following year in Vermont with 132 total cases (18 deaths), including several cases in adults . Numerous epidemics of varying magnitude began to appear throughout the country; by 1907 approximately 2,500 cases of poliomyelitis were reported in New York City . </P>

Where was the first documented case of polio