The Discovery Of The Polio Vaccine

The history of vaccinations begin with Edward Jenner, the country doctor from Gloucestershire who found, growing on cows, a nearly harmless virus the protected people from smallpox. Jenner’s vaccine was safer, more reliable, and more durable than variolation, and it is still the only vaccine to have eliminated its reason for being-in 1980, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease extinct. For nearly a century and a half, smallpox was the only vaccine routinely administered, and it saved millions of lives . But the controversy that marked the return of the vaccine, amid bioterrorism hysteria in 2002, was only the latest twist in the remarkable, mysterious life of vaccines.

He also focused on the work done by Isabel Morgan and her contributions to develop the polio vaccine and achieved success about the creation of a killed virus vaccine which worked on monkeys, but she decided to take care of her family rather than developing the vaccine further. David M Oshinsky author of Polio An American story believes and also stated that Morgan could have beaten Salk’s if she continued her research she was two years advanced when compared to the Salk’s vaccine.

Growing up we are always told, “Make sure you get your flu shot!” That leads to the question of where did vaccines come from? As a society we have benefited from vaccines for over two centuries. However, the road to proper vaccines hasn’t been an easy one. In 1796 Edward Jenner, a doctor located in England, performed the first vaccination. The need for this vaccine was because milkmaids from around the country were becoming infected with cowpox. Based on his findings from this vaccine and several others, Jenner published a book that would later become a classic in the art of medicine. This book was, Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccine. According to authors Alexandra Minna Stern and Howard Markel, this text laid the foundation for modern vaccinology (Stern & Markel,

Poliomyelitis was a highly infectious disease that spread through many Americans in the early 20th century. As a matter of fact, over 3,000 Americans died of the disease each year. Families were overwhelmingly desperate for doctors to find a cure. When one suffered from polio, they generally experienced painful symptoms which included not only fatigue and muscle weakness, but even death. Therefore, when the polio vaccine was introduced by scientist Jonas Salk in 1953, it greatly contributed to Americans in numerous positive ways. Environmentally, the vaccine saved countless young American lives affected by the disease thus decreasing American mortality rates. Socially, the polio vaccine convenienced families who were either directly afflicted

He knew that Polio caused paralysis, and invaded the nervous system. As a result, he wanted to end the greatest epidemic in America at that time. As he began researching, the president of the March of Dimes Foundation, Basal O’Connor, wanted to help Salk create the Polio vaccination. His goal was to fund Salk to find a cure against Paralytic Poliomyelitis, or Polio. Jonas devoted the next 8 years of his life working to develop the vaccine. He finally was able to create the vaccine, using formaldehyde, or a chemical compound. Salk used the killed Polio virus to immunize without being infected, or becoming infected after the injection. Soon after the vaccine was created, they began to test it on monkeys; and then they tested it on children who already had Polio at the Watson Institute. After that trial was done, the testing spread to volunteers who wanted the vaccine; this included Jonas, his wife, and his family. By 1954, national testing began on children between the ages of 6-9. On April 12, 1955, they were able to conclude that the vaccine was safe and effective. Salk became known as a miracle worker, although he remained selfless. Jonas wanted no major payment, or recognition for the creation of the vaccine. In fact, he credited that the vaccine creation was accomplished due to the help of John Enders, a Harvard researcher. Enders was the man

With a substantial amount of preventive healthcare advancements behind them, the American medical community turned its attention to the deadly polio virus plaguing America. From 1937 to 1952, known cases of Americans contracting polio skyrocketed from ten thousand to a staggering figure of roughly fifty-seven thousand cases. Of those cases within that time period, approximately one thousand five hundred deaths as a result of polio were recorded. In the year 1953, The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis provided the scientist Dr. Jonas Salk with the tools necessary to research, and develop a working vaccine to combat the devastating polio disease. After much trial and error, Dr. Salk was finally able to create what he felt was a successful polio vaccination, and proceeded to conduct a field test. After resounding success, manufacturing instructions for the Salk vaccine were sent to a series of scientific laboratories for immediate production and administration to American children. The disaster that occurred next will forever be known through American medical history as the Cutter Incident (named so after one of the labs that administered the polio vaccine). This medical crisis sent shockwaves throughout America and the medical community, and numerous lawsuits were filed against Cutter Laboratories, resulting in fewer and fewer labs willing to accept contract work in developing vaccines.

Most notably, Jonas Edward Salk was known for his work in the field of medicine, specifically the polio vaccine, his medical research institution, and the institution’s fight against AIDS. Salk was working with Thomas Francis Jr. at New York University College of Medicine, where they were developing a killed-virus vaccine (Britannica 1). A killed-virus or inactivated vaccine is an

The discovery of a chemical made by Canada was used to treat and cure Polio through a joint effort between USA and Canada. Canada developed a more effective oral vaccine after The United States drug trial caused severe backlashes. A graph published by Dr. Christopher J. Rutty visually depicts polio incidents till 1962 portrays the rates after each vaccine, like the Salk and Sabin vaccine made by United States and Canada respectively (Rutty). The graph shows a major decrease in Polio incidents after Canada created the Sabin vaccine in order to counteract the severe polio backlash caused by USA’s drug that was accidentally inactivated and caused polio instead of curing it. The graph is a major indicator that Canadian doctors working on the vaccine were extremely diligent and smart when working on the creation of the Sabin vaccine (the Canadian oral vaccine). The graph also signifies the speed at which Canada was able to release an effective cure for the backlash of the Salk vaccine (USA’s version of the polio vaccine) indicating, Canada was a growing nation in the 1970s in medicine. The creation of the Sabin vaccine led to copious numbers of Polio organizations in Canada doing worldwide care after a national vaccine was found. Canada’s role in the treatment of polio had resonating effects worldwide as a result. Canadian female doctor Vera Peters

In the late 1700’s, Edward Jenner published his work on the development of a smallpox vaccination. Nearly a century later, Louis Pasteur goes on to formulate the Germ Theory of Disease. Two years later, Pasteur goes on to create the first live attenuated bacterial vaccine for chicken cholera. Six years later, the rabies vaccination is developed by the same man.

Jeffrey Kluger is a number one New York Times bestseller for his coauthoring of Apollo 13, but Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio, much like the name suggests, is the story of Jonas Salk and his great contribution to society with the polio vaccine. Kluger walks through Jonas Salk’s life starting with his father and mother, what they did, how they lived, and where they were from. Kluger transitions into Salk’s childhood and his serious nature. Kluger states: “Salk was…a serious boy, troubled by sometimes curious things. Rules seemed to grate him the most. Not that he didn’t expect a good rule when he came across one.” (25). Kluger flows well into talking about Salk’s education, Salk meeting his wife, them getting married, and all places that Salk worked in the different aspects of his life. Kluger does add bits and pieces of Basil O’Conner’s and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s lives, in relation to polio and Jonas Salk’s life at that point in his career. Kluger goes into some detail about Salk’s creation of the influenza vaccine, but his main focus was on the polio vaccine. Salk used some of the techniques he learned from creating the flu vaccine and applied them to the polio vaccine. Some of those techniques worked, while others did not. Kluger goes into a lot of detail into Salk getting started working on the polio vaccine and who funded his research. There was

The disease poliomyelitis is more commonly known by its alternative name “polio.” The history of this disease dates back into prehistory, but major polio epidemics were not known before the twentieth century. The first clinical description of this disease was provided by a British physician named Michael Underwood, in which he described the disease as debility of the lower extremities. In the 1880s major epidemics started to occur in Europe, then made its way soon after into the United States. The first report of multiple cases was recorded in 1843 and described an outbreak that happened in Louisiana in 1841. The next large outbreak was in Boston in 1893 where there were 26 cases of poliomyelitis. The following year was the first recognized epidemic in the United States which occurred in Vermont with 132 total cases, including 18 deaths. By 1907 there were approximately 2,500 cases of polio reported in New York City alone. By 1910, epidemics of polio were regular events throughout the developed world, mostly in cities during the warmer months. In 1916 there were over 27,000 cases including more than 6,000 deaths due to polio in the United States, with more than 2,000 deaths occurring in New York City alone. Poliomyelitis hit its peak in the 1940s and 1950s; it paralyzed or killed more than half a million people per year.

The discovery of the polio vaccine was an important medical and scientific breakthrough because it saved many lives since the 1950s. In the summer of 1916 the great polio epidemic struck the United states. By the 1950s hundreds of thousands of people had been struck by the poliomyelitis. The highest number of cases occurred in 1953 with over 50,000 people infected with the virus.

Vaccine-derived polioviruses: This is a very rare strain of poliovirus that is create by the mutation of the virus in the OPV. The OPV enters the intestine and multiplies. After it get absorbed into the bloodstream it activates the immune system. When the patient is excreting the virus it can change and be genetically altered. To get paralysed from this type of poliovirus is very rare. THe paralytic type of vaccine-associated poliomyelitis only occurs in 1 of 2.7million. If a community is not fully vaccinated then the viruses will survive longer and will undergo more mutations as long as it is being spread around. If there is a case of vaccine-derived poliovirus, the oral vaccine will be given to prevent the spread of the disease from the patient.

Poliomyelitis has been around longer than one can imagine. According to an article written by Rogers, polio first appeared in Norway and Sweden around 1870s and 1880s. Later on, paralytic polio outbreaks occurred in the United States during 1890s. Decades later, it became a major epidemic because lot of people became infected, many people died and some people developed disabilities (A Paralyzing Fear, 1998). Since the virus was discovered, scientists such as Brodie, Kolmer, Enders, Salk, Sabin, and Koprowski, had been trying to find a cure or a vaccine that could help stop the disease. The fight against polio and the search for a cure happened during one of America’s most important presidents who were infected with poliomyelitis. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who rescued the American people from The Great Depression and War World II, was a victim of this deadly virus.

Jonas salk invented the IPV vaccine. He was born October 28, 1914 to Russian parents. His parents had no education but wanted him to be successful so they encouraged him to work hard. “In 1939 he received a Medical Degree from New York University College of Medicine. In 1942 he joined one of his professors at the University of Michigan School of Public Health” (Petersen, Jennifer B). Jonas and his professor developed vaccine for influenza, which was Salk’s first invention. Then he traveled to Pittsburgh and became a Professor. There, he also became head of the virus research lab. He worked on a vaccine there. He used the killed virus to prevent people from contracting it. On July 2, 1952 he vaccinated 42 children who did not have polio and his trials succeeded. On April 12, 1955 Salk vaccinate 1.8 million children and right after he announced that his trial were effective and that the vaccine works (Petersen, Jennifer B).