The History of the Polio Vaccine
by Krysta CardinalePoliomyelitis is more commonly known as polio, and is a communicable disease. This means that is spread by human-to-human contact, usually through the mouth from contaminated food or water and then infects the intestinal wall. After this the virus can then find its way into the blood stream and then the central nervous system. The disease was formally recognized in 1840 by Jacob Heine.
It is considered a ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus, and there are three different strains of it including non-paralytic, spinal, and bulbar. The disease can infect a person regardless of age, however over fifty percent of the cases in the history of polio occurred in children from three to five years of age. Poliomyelitis has an incubation period ranging from three to thirty-five days without any physical outbreaks. This allows the disease to spread rapidly throughout the body without the victim knowing it. Early symptoms include fatigue, vomiting, pain in the neck and extremities, headache, and fever.
The three different forms of this disease have different and sometimes fatal effects on human beings. The non-paralytic strain results in abdominal pain and vomiting, fever, fatigue, muscle tenderness, and irritability. This is the mildest strain and often is mistaken for the influenza (the flu). The spinal strain affects the anterior horn cells in the spinal column. These are the ones that control movement of the core and limb muscles. It can cause the limbs to be “floppy” and lack control. This strain can cause permanent paralysis, but it has only happened in about one percent of the reported cases. The degree of paralysis is in direct relationship to the extent of infection. If it spreads to the upper portion of the spinal cord it paralyzes the diaphragm and a person will need a ventilator in order to survive. The bulbar strain of this virus is the most deadly. It has a mortality rate ranging from twenty-five to seventy-five percent. This form affects the brain stem which consists of the motor neurons that control ones breathing and the cranial nerves, which include smell, vision, hearing, facial muscles, tongue movement, taste and functions of the throat. A person with this form of polio can not survive without a ventilator or other breathing apparatus. The Spinal and bulbar strains usually coexist.
Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine
In 1952, at the height of the epidemic, nearly 58,000 cases were reported in the United States and around 3,000 people died. The process of developing a cure for this disease was slow due to the fact that a person could not be treated once he/she was infected. There needed to be a vaccine given before contamination. On March 26, 1953, Dr. Jonas Salk reported that his polio vaccine was tested successfully on ninety adults and children. The vaccine provided protection against all three strains of the poliomyelitis virus. Jonas Salk’s breakthrough was the turning point in the fight against the disease that killed or crippled thousands each year. Epidemics would hit during the summer when the disease was most contagious. Millions of parents lived in fear that their child could be the next victim. No one was safe.
In 1954, massive field tests were sponsored by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis on the polio vaccine, and had positive results. In 1955, the vaccine was licensed for use. When it was that a polio vaccine was proven safe and effective, parents everywhere breathed a sigh of relief.
In Washington D.C. at a White House ceremony, Dr. Jonas Salk, watched proudly by his wife, received from United States President Eisenhower a citation for extraordinary achievement following his discovery of the polio vaccination.
President Eisenhower: “Before I hand you this citation, I shall like to say to you that when I think of the countless thousands of American parents and grandparents who are hereafter to be spared the agonizing fears of the annual epidemic of poliomyelitis, when I think of all the agony that these people will be spared as they see a loved one suffering in bed, I must say to you, I have no words in which adequately to express the thanks of myself, all the people I know and all 164 million Americans, to say nothing of all the other people in the world that will profit from your discovery. I'm very, very happy to hand this to you.”
The polio vaccination was one of the great achievements of the 20th century. After the vaccine, the disease has become virtually unheard of in the United States. Dr. Jonas Salk’s efforts also inspired many others to use scientific research for the advancement of medicine.
