Polio was first found in England around 1789 by a man named Michael Underwood. The first outbreaks of the disease in Europe were in the early 19th century. Soon after, the United States first reported to have polio in 1843. Over the next 100 years, polio were reportedly developed in the Northern Hemisphere each summer and fall. Polio reached its peak in the US in 1952 when over 21,000 people had the disease. After that, cases of polio decreased quickly after a effective vaccine was being used. This disease is pandemic. Polio spread so fast and far because of how contagious it is and how easily it was for people in that time to get. Polio still currently exists in Africa and Asia.