Talk:History of poliomyelitis

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[edit] Poliomyelitis section split?

(Refactored from User_talk:MarcoTolo. -- MarcoTolo 03:26, 9 May 2007 (UTC))

Have you seen the polio peer review? What do you think about a history section split? I am having some trouble with this, it seems difficult to move much of anything out of the current article without sacrificing "the story". I might be too close to the article though, I would love to hear any thoughts you might have.--DO11.10 18:18, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

I'm torn on this one, too - will think about it and get back to you shortly. -- MarcoTolo 07:48, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Okay, my gut reaction was to keep the entry together -- keep the story complete, as you mentioned in the peer review. After all, the historical aspects of polio are unique as a human disease entity. After thinking about Colin's comments in the PR, however, I've decided to try and look at the main Poliomyelitis article as a "current status" page like most other ID articles and construct a separate "History of...." page to accommodate the bulk of the historical and societal info. Its a bit crude, but I've made a prototype Poliomyelitis test page in my userspace with an accompanying History of poliomyelitis article. I am not explicitly advocating for this division - the pages are there for getting a handle on what such a division might look like. Take a peek when you get a chance and let me know what you think. -- MarcoTolo 00:18, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Actually that does look pretty good! It doesn't really seem like the main article suffered at all, and it might enable some expansion of the History part. It looks like it might work after all?? What do you think? I will drop Colin a line, see what he thinks. Thanks for giving me some perspective here!--DO11.10 02:34, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Somewhat to my surprise, it works reasonably well.... The "History" article needs some copyediting in the intro and the main article history section probably could be tightened somewhat, but otherwise it looks workable. Let's see what Colin's "outside perspective" viewpoint is and work from there. -- MarcoTolo 02:47, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Colin's suggestions

The history article needs a proper lead that summarises the article. You need more sections. this web site has got a good history and timeline of key events that could be covered. However, as a reference I'd prefer if you used the book rather than the author's homepage, which probably doesn't meet WP:RS.
I hope the new page gives the History room to expand. I'm sure there's enough material for a well structured article several times this size.

Colin°Talk 13:17, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] I see you've been bold...

This history article is looking good so far, but still needs a proper lead that summarises the article. The current "lead" is actually a section (pre 20th Century — not sure what name it should have).Colin°Talk 13:00, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the page needs an appropriate lead, I will try to work on one. Dunno what to call the pre-20th century section either??
Some areas I think could be expanded:
  1. The historical treatment section: lots of (rather frightening) stuff out there, could potentially have a section for each treatment.
  2. Should we include anything about the vaccine development? I am currently thinking a small pointedly historical section.
  3. The epidemics could be described in more detail, a graph of case numbers could be made.
  4. More "world view" type information, the US info is just easier to come by (I love the CDC), but epidemics occurred everywhere.

This is just an off the top of my head type list, it may not work, and I am sure that the article could be expanded in many more areas.--DO11.10 21:12, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the vaccine story must be mentioned (briefly since it has its own article) from a historical POV and mentioned briefly in the main polio article from a current-day POV. Your point 4 is vital. Even documentaries in the UK focus on the American story but WP should attempt to be international. I'm really surprised there isn't more to say about the pre-20C stuff. There's really two sections but they are currently very brief: The ancient history and the first modern clinical descriptions. Colin°Talk 21:29, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
The lack of pre-20th century info is less surprising than one might originally expect - epidemic polio is really a recent phenomenon (see Trevelyan et al 2005. Some general non-US epidemic info can be found in the same article. While not universal, some have suggested that a variation of the hygiene hypothesis (better public health -> reduced antigenic exposure -> increased susceptibility to epidemic diseases) is responsible for the shift in the natural history of polio events. -- MarcoTolo 21:59, 9 May 2007 (UTC)