<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> 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>
where was the first documented case of polio
where was the first documented case of polio
1840
1840