# FDR's Polio- myth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2008, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713 "2008-12-26T08:32:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![schindler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@schindler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schindler)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/1 "2008-12-26T08:32:11Z")
> **[What was the cause of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's paralytic illness? - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14562158/)** > > In 1921, when he was 39 years of age, Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted an illness characterized by: fever; protracted symmetric, ascending paralysis; facial paralysis; bladder and bowel dysfunction; numbness; and dysaesthesia. The symptoms... Anyone know more about this? Apparently a peer-reviewed study concluded that FDR suffered from Guillain-Barré like Joseph Heller. I haven’t found counterclaims debunking the study, but you’d think I’d have heard about it by now if it were accepted fact. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/2 "2008-12-26T08:40:42Z")
Roosevelt was severely afflicted with a disabling disease, which is not a myth. It is fact. Whether his doctors made the correct diagnosis or misdiagnosed his disease process I suppose is open to debate. While I was in the hospital earlier this month with my own heart valve repair, my cousin was stricken with what Kaiser called Gullian-Barre. He is making great progress in recovering, and we are hopeful. ---
**Author:** ![schindler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@schindler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schindler)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/3 "2008-12-26T08:50:50Z")
I am aware that the guy was paralyzed. The myth would be that he was afflicted with polio rather than GBS. And I’m looking for a counterclaim, because FDR’s polio has become a pretty concrete part of history, and I’d find it odd if claims that it was a misdiagnosis were undisputed. If they are, then my life is a lie and I’m never trusting another third grade history textbook again. Good luck to you and your cousin. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/4 "2008-12-26T09:18:09Z")
The claim is that the diagnosis was more likely Guillain=Barre than polio. The method for determining which disease it probably was is a formula that took into consideration his age and the symptoms. I don’t really think this was a peer reviewed article, but perhaps a bit of reasonably sound medical speculation. After all, they were unable to examine the patient. So the matter is probably still unsettled. Your textbooks will have many mistakes in them. Sometimes it’s a matter of bias on the side of the writers of the textbook or, more likely, on the committee that chooses the textbook. In a situation like this, it’s probably a matter of just knowing more now than they did when FDR was ill or when your textbook was written. That is why revisions of history textbooks can be a really good thing, but they need to be worded carefully. After all, it is not history that is being revised. It is a textbook account of history. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/5 "2008-12-26T10:00:24Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I don’t really think this was a peer reviewed article, but perhaps a bit of reasonably sound medical speculation. The Journal of Medical Biography is a [peer review](http://jmb.rsmjournals.com/misc/authors.dtl) publication. Peer review has nothing to do with looking at patients. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/6 "2008-12-26T10:45:45Z")
The virus was isolated in 1908 and he became ill in 1921 so I would expect it was confirmed in laboratory tests. Just a wag on my part. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/7 "2008-12-26T13:53:35Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The virus was isolated in 1908 and he became ill in 1921 so I would expect it was confirmed in laboratory tests. Just a wag on my part. I doubt there were definitive tests for victims of polio in those days, not even tissue culture to show (nonspecific) viral pathogenic effects. It would’ve likely been a matter of physical diagnosis. The Guillain-Barre is an interesting contention, but retrospective Bayesian analysis is obviously not a precise means of diagnosis. Let’s hope no one is crazy enough to petition to exhume his remains for PCR testing for polio. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/8 "2008-12-26T16:37:02Z")
> [@schindler](#): > > I’m never trusting another third grade history textbook again. There’s your problem right there… ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/9 "2008-12-27T02:26:40Z")
Peer review doesn’t mean that it is true, just that there are no obvious errors or biases. Sounds like this article is speculation (albeit substantial speculation). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/10 "2008-12-27T02:52:24Z")
The abstract only says that the _probabilities_ indicate Guillain-Barré. But probabilities are meaningless. They don’t rule out polio. They just say “In this population, these symptons are more likely to be Guillain-Barré than polio.” But any given case is individual. The odds of winning the lottery, for instance, are highly stacked against any given player. Yet people win the lottery all the time. You can’t point at a lottery winner and say, “he couldn’t possibly have won because the probabilities say he won’t.” Looking at Wikipedia: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > August 12 > Roosevelt could not stand. He had bilateral paralysis. His legs were numb. He also had painful sensitivity to touch, general aches, and\*\* fever of 102 F.\*\*([Paralytic illness of Franklin D. Roosevelt - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt's_paralytic_illness)) (Bolding added) Again, with Wikipedia: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain-Barré\_syndrome:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain-Barr%C3%A9_syndrome:) **Fever should not be present** , and if it is, another cause should be suspected. (bolding added) Now, Wikipedia is not the best source, of course, but, assuming this to be accurate, Roosevelt’s fever means it wasn’t Guillain-Barré ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/11 "2008-12-27T09:35:52Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I doubt there were definitive tests for victims of polio in those days, not even tissue culture to show (nonspecific) viral pathogenic effects. It would’ve likely been a matter of physical diagnosis. > > The Guillain-Barre is an interesting contention, but retrospective Bayesian analysis is obviously not a precise means of diagnosis. Let’s hope no one is crazy enough to petition to exhume his remains for PCR testing for polio. All the old movies show a doctor looking through a microscope to see the deadly germs. It must be true. One thing that came to mind was that FDR liked to swim so I think that might up the probability somewhat that it was polio. Certainly a non-chlorined pool was a good place to catch it. Again, another wag. I would like to know if the age aspect of the disease wasn’t a function of environment and not related to any physical aspect of the person. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/12 "2008-12-27T15:50:18Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The virus was isolated in 1908 and he became ill in 1921 so I would expect it was confirmed in laboratory tests. Just a wag on my part. My grandfather had a partially withered arm and one leg a bit shorter than the other, which was attributed to mild polio as a child by some docs. But we are not sure and it could never be nailed down. Certainly the time would be right for polio (he would have been in his mid-80’s next month) but the diagnosis was based on the physical ailments and nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/13 "2008-12-27T16:27:43Z")
Is there any evidence the doctor who diagnosed polio considered G-B? If so, we probably should give preference to his findings, since he actually had the patient before him. If not, then the question remains open. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/14 "2008-12-27T16:35:42Z")
There’s an old saying “When you hear hoof beat don’t think Zebras.” ---
**Author:** ![schindler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@schindler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schindler)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/15 "2008-12-27T23:02:15Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The abstract only says that the _probabilities_ indicate Guillain-Barré. > > But probabilities are meaningless. They don’t rule out polio. They just say “In this population, these symptons are more likely to be Guillain-Barré than polio.” But any given case is individual. The odds of winning the lottery, for instance, are highly stacked against any given player. Yet people win the lottery all the time. You can’t point at a lottery winner and say, “he couldn’t possibly have won because the probabilities say he won’t.” > > Looking at Wikipedia: > > Again, with Wikipedia: > > Now, Wikipedia is not the best source, of course, but, assuming this to be accurate, Roosevelt’s fever means it wasn’t Guillain-Barré amusing that you used wikipedia. after all, in “notable sufferers” of GBS, wikipedia claims Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. president. In 2003, a peer-reviewed study[14] found that it was more likely that Roosevelt’s paralysis–long attributed to poliomyelitis–was actually Guillain-Barré syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fdrs-polio-myth/478713/16 "2008-12-28T03:12:46Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Now, Wikipedia is not the best source, of course, but, assuming this to be accurate, Roosevelt’s fever means it wasn’t Guillain-Barré Isn’t it possible that on that day, he had a fever due to an unrelated illness?