History of Vaccines: Polio
Polio and Early Treatments
Poliomyelitis, or polio for short, is a disease that infects the spinal cord causing muscle weakness and paralysis. Egyptian carvings from 1400 B.C.E show victims of polio indicating that the disease has been around through much of human history. Outbreaks reached pandemic proportions in Europe and North America during the early 20th century. A notable victim of polio was Franklin Delanor Roosevelt who contracted the disease in 1921 and left his legs paralyzed for life. The worst epidemic of polio occurred in 1952 where 57,628 cases were reported with 21,000 cases resulting in paralysis and 3,000 in death.
One treatment for patients experiencing paralysis in the chest was the use of what was called an "Iron Lung." The device was a tube-like structure, powered by electricity which increased and decreased the internal pressure to force air in and out of the lungs. Calls for a cure for polio increased as parents became more concerned about their children catching the disease. In 1938, a fundraising effort known as the "March of Dimes" began with people mailing dimes to fund research on the poliovirus.
Iron lung (c. 1933) used to "breathe" for polio patients until 1955 when the polio vaccine became available is located in the Mobile Medical Museum, Mobile, Alabama.
Source: Library of Congress Image License: No known restrictions on publication.
Sources:
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. (n.d.). History of Polio. Timeline | History of Vaccines. https://historyofvaccines.org/history/polio/timeline
Smithsonian National Museum of American History. (2005, February 1). NMAH: Polio: The Virus and Vaccine. NMAH | Polio: The Virus and Vaccine. https://amhistory.si.edu/polio/virusvaccine/index.htm.
- 8 Things You May Not Know About Jonas Salk and the Polio VaccineA list about the development of a Polio vaccine and Dr. Jonas Salk
- The Campaign To Wipe Out Polio Was Going Really Well ... Until It Wasn'tAn article from NPR about the challenges facing the eradication of Polio during 2020. Includes a graph of cases of polio worldwide from 2000-2020.
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention: PolioThe CDC's page on polio
- "Whatever happened to Polio?" Smithsonian’s National Museum of American HistoryWebsite for an exhibit to mark the 50th anniversary of Salk's Vaccine at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Links lead to various pages featuring photos, timelines, sound files, and various other media on the history of Polio and the Polio Vaccine.
Resources
The Cutter Incident by
Vaccines have saved more lives than any other single medical advance. Yet today only four companies make vaccines, and there is a growing crisis in vaccine availability. Why has this happened? This remarkable book recounts for the first time a devastating episode in 1955 at Cutter Laboratories in Berkeley, California, thathas led many pharmaceutical companies to abandon vaccine manufacture.Drawing on interviews with public health officials, pharmaceutical company executives, attorneys, Cutter employees, and victims of the vaccine, as well as on previously unavailable archives, Dr. Paul Offit offers a full account of the Cutter disaster. He describes the nation’s relief when the polio vaccine was developed by Jonas Salk in 1955, the production of the vaccine at industrial facilities such as the one operated by Cutter, and the tragedy that occurred when 200,000 people were inadvertently injected with live virulent polio virus: 70,000 became ill, 200 were permanently paralyzed, and 10 died. Dr. Offit also explores how, as a consequence of the tragedy, one jury’s verdict set in motion events that eventually suppressed the production of vaccines already licensed and deterred the development of new vaccines that hold the promise of preventing other fatal diseases.
Call Number: WC 11 AA1 O32c 2005ISBN: 0300108648Publication Date: 2005-10-10
The Virus and the Vaccine by
Jonas Salk's polio vaccine has taken on an almost legendary quality as a medical miracle, for it largely eradicated one of the most feared diseases of the 20th century. But the story of the vaccine has a dark side, one that has never been fully told before... Between 1954 and 1963, close to 98 million Americans received polio vaccinations contaminated with a carcinogenic monkey virus, now known as SV40. A concerted government effort downplayed the incident, and it was generally accepted that although oncogenic to laboratory animals, SV40 was harmless to humans.But now SV40 in showing up in human cancers, and prominent researchers are demanding a serious public health response to this forgotten polio vaccine contaminant. A gripping medical detective story, The Virus and the Vaccine raises major questions about vaccine policy.
Call Number: QR406.2 .S56 B66 2004ISBN: 0312278721Publication Date: 2004-04-29
Splendid Solution by
The riveting story of one of the greatest scientific accomplishments of the twentieth century, from the coauthor of the #1 New York Timesbestseller Apollo 13. With rivalries, reversals, and a race against time, the struggle to eradicate polio is one of the great tales of modern history. It begins with the birth of Jonas Salk, shortly before one of the worst polio epidemics in United States history. At the time, the disease was a terrifying enigma: striking from out of nowhere, it afflicted tens of thousands of children in this country each year and left them-literally overnight-paralyzed, and sometimes at death's door. Salk was in medical school just as a president crippled by the disease, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was taking office-and providing the impetus to the drive for studies on polio. By the early 1950s, Salk had already helped create an influenza vaccine, and was hot on the trail of the polio virus. He was nearly thwarted, though, by the politics of medicine and by a rival researcher eager to discredit his proposed solution. Meanwhile, in 1952, polio was spreading in record numbers, with 57,000 cases in the United States that summer alone. In early 1954, Salk was weighing the possibility of trials of a not-yet-perfected vaccine against-as the summer approached-the prospect of thousands more children being struck down by the disease. The results of the history-making trials were announced at a press conference on April 12, 1955: "The vaccine works." The room-and an entire nation-erupted in cheers for this singular medical achievement. Salk became a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the first national vaccination program-and as humanity is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio worldwide-comes this unforgettable chronicle. Salk's work was an unparalleled achievement-and it makes for a magnificent read.
Call Number: QR31 .S25 K58 2004ISBN: 0399152164Publication Date: 2005-01-27Patenting the Sun by An account of the people and events behind the development of Salk's vaccine.
Call Number: WC 556 S651p 1990ISBN: 9780688094942Publication Date: 1990-05-01
Polio : the odyssey of eradication by Publication Date: 2018
The Death of a Disease by
In 1988, the World Health Organization launched a campaign for the global eradication of polio. Today, this goal is closer than ever. Fewer than 1,300 people were paralyzed from the disease in 2004, down from approximately 350,000 in 1988. In The Death of a Disease, science writers Bernard Seytre and Mary Shaffer tell the dramatic story of this crippling virus that has evoked terror among parents and struck down healthy children for centuries. Beginning in ancient Egypt, the narrative explores the earliest stages of research, describes the wayward paths taken by a long line of scientists-each of whom made a vital contribution to understanding this enigmatic virus-and traces the development of the Salk and Sabin vaccines. The book also tracks the contemporary polio story, detailing the remaining obstacles as well as the medical, governmental, and international health efforts that are currently being focused on developing countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Niger. At a time when emerging diseases and the threat of bioterrorism are the focus of much media and public attention, this book tells the story of a crippling disease that is on the verge of disappearing. In the face of tremendous odds, the near-eradication of polio offers an inspiring story that is both encouraging and instructive to those at the center of the continued fight against communicable diseases.
ISBN: 9780813537863Publication Date: 2005-08-22
Dr. Jonas Salk and the development of a Polio vaccine
The development of a polio vaccine began in 1935 with the work of Dr. Maurice Brodie and Dr. John Kolmer. Unfortunately, these early tests did not yield much success. In 1948, a researcher by the name of Dr. Hilary Koprowski drank his own concoction of the polio vaccine and luckily suffered no ill effects. He moved to test an attenuated (weakened) oral polio vaccine on 20 children in 1950.
In 1952, Dr. Jonas Salk began testing an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) made from proteins or small pieces of the poliovirus. The National Foundation created a Vaccine Advisory Committee to facilitate large-scale testing for the Salk vaccine in 1954. The experiment concluded in 1955 with the IPV being found to be 80-90% effective against the poliovirus. However, vaccination was suspended a few weeks later in what was known as the Cutter Incident when eleven people were killed after vaccination and hundreds more paralyzed most likely due to poor production. The Salk Vaccine would be phased out in 1968 and would not be used in the U.S. until 1997 when an improved version of the IPV was released.
Dr. Jonas Salk, standing and talking with Mrs. Mary Lasker.
Source: The National Library of Medicine. Image License: The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain.
Another vaccine developed in 1957 was the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) created by Albert Sabin. While Sabin's OPV was cheaper and could be eaten rather than injected, there was a risk of the virus becoming virulent again.
In 1988, the WHO declared a global initiative to eradicate polio. In 1988 there were around 350,000 children affected by polio. 2016 saw some of the lowest numbers of polio cases around the world with only 42 reported cases. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic, efforts to eradicate polio have been set back. While polio has not been eradicated yet, the development of a polio vaccine has allowed countless children to experience life free from polio.
Sources:
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. (n.d.). History of Polio. Timeline | History of Vaccines. https://www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline/polio
Smithsonian National Museum of American History. (2005, February 1). NMAH: Polio: The Virus and Vaccine. NMAH | Polio: The Virus and Vaccine. https://amhistory.si.edu/polio/virusvaccine