First Clinical Description of Polio
In 1789, British physician specializing in midwifery and surgery, Michael Underwood, published A Treatise on the Diseases of Children, with General Directions for the Management of Infants from Birth, which details diseases and their origins that particularly affected children. Of particular note was his description of polio, noting it as "debility of the lower extremities".
Prior to this published clinical description, there had been written descriptions and visual depictions of what we now understand to be the effects of the polio virus. In fact, one of the earliest descriptions is from an ancient Egyptian wall carving from the Eighteenth Dynasty (1580– 1350 B . C . E .), or about 3,500 years ago. It shows a young man with one withered leg and a drooping foot who supports himself with a staff. A leg paralyzed by polio usually withers because the muscles no longer work or build strength and size.
The writings of the Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460 B.C.E.) contain descriptions of foot and leg deformities that might plausibly be describing paralytic polio. Several centuries later, the Roman physician Galen (138– 201 C.E.) seems to have been familiar with paralysis of the legs that occurred in early childhood, again suggestive of polio.
From the time of the ancient Rome to the eighteenth century, there is no clear evidence of polio in either the surviving written or visual evidence. There is, however, some evidence from this long time span that children and young adults continued to suffer from paralyzed limbs that would often produce severe deformities. From 200 to 1700 C.E., many visual artists portrayed deformed bodies, but whether any of these impairments were the result of polio is uncertain.
It is only in the 1700s that we again had descriptions of illnesses and paralysis that are suggestive of polio. There are a number of medical accounts from doctors in colonial America that describe sudden paralysis in young children affecting limbs on one side or another. Thus Underwood's Treatise marks an important development in the documentation of polio cases as well as the clinical descriptions of the disease.
References:
Dunn, P M. “Michael Underwood, MD (1737-1820): physician-accoucheur of London.” Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition vol. 91,2 (2006): F150-2. doi:10.1136/adc.2005.074526
"Michael Underwood (1736?-1820)." Vaulted Treasures: University of Virginia, Historical Collections at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/treasures/michael-underwood-1736-1820/.
Wilson, D. J. (2009). Polio. ABC-CLIO.