In the United States there was a vicious enemy everyone feared. In the 1950s the United States was under attack by the ruthless Poliomyelitis virus. Americans lived in constant fear of their children contracting this horrible virus that left many children paralyzed. During the outbreaks in the 1950s foundations were created to fund research and create awareness to help find a way to eradicate the virus. Americans become focused on doing anything in their power to fight this virus off. Jonas Salk’s Exploration of Medicine and research led to the creation of the Polio vaccine that united the country, prevented further outbreaks, and introduced a new form of treatment which has limited the fatality of polio infections today.
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Salk’s research led him to create a vaccine different from any other by using 3 different kind of killed polio virus. In an article it says,”Using formaldehyde, Salk killed the poliovirus, but kept it intact enough to trigger the necessary immune response”(Salk’s institute 1). Salk 's decision to create a vaccine out of inactivated virus was not the strongest protector, but was made strong enough to cure and lower the risk of infection within patients. It was one of the first times someone attempted to take a completely opposite approach than what scientist thought was best. As he said in an interview, “ ‘The principle I was trying to establish was that it was not necessary to run the risk of infection, which would have been the case if one were to try to develop an attenuated or weekend polio virus vaccine’ ”( Salk 2). By taking the risk of creating a vaccine that contradicted what a normal vaccine, was it helped give the United States another weapon to fight back polio without exposing americans to the risk of contracting the disease. His different approach to find a remedy may have been looked down on, but it provided the first protection ever for polio which created hope and has contributed to less fatalities today. Scientists in the medical world began to criticize Salk’s vaccine and gave preference to a polio vaccine that was later created by Sabin out of a live polio virus. Medical professionals saw Salk’s vaccine as useless and thought Sabin’ s vaccine was the best alternative. "the oral polio vaccine also came under attack in the united states for causing eight in ten cases of polio every year”( poliomyelitis 4). Sabin’s vaccine may have been stronger but at least Salk’s never provided a risk of the patients being injected run a risk of being infected again. Salk’s vaccine has provided less risk of a patient to relapse into polio again.
At first polio was a troubling prospect when it first reared its ugly head in the United States of America. In a noble effort to be rid of polio, America as a whole was to adopt stringent sanitation measures. Everywhere, especially the home was to be spotless and clean in order to try and prevent the contraction of polio. This coupled with the view that America as a western nation seemed impervious to such a lowly disease tried to assuage American fear of the disease. Despite the measures commonly adopted throughout the myriad of cities and towns, polio still managed to spread around the country and wreak havoc taking thousands of lives. An outbreak that ravaged America claimed nearly 27,000 lives in a terrible reckoning before it finally subsided. This and several other troubling outbreaks
Polio: An American Story describes a struggle to find a vaccine on polio through several researchers’ lives, and over the course of many years. The second thesis is the struggle between Salk and Sabin, two bitter rivals who had their own vaccine that they believed would cure polio. The author David M. Oshinsky, is describing how difficult it was to find the cure to a horrifying disease, which lasted from the Great Depression until the 1960’s. Oshinsky then writes about how foundations formed as fundraisers, to support polio research. Lastly, the author demonstrates how researchers were forced to back track on multiple occasions, to learn more about polio.
The authors used a historical timeline to introduce a need. Stressing the number of lives lost allows the authors show the importance of vaccines. The repeated emphasis on those lives being the lives of children played on the emotions of readers. Once the need is established Lee and Carson-Dewitt clarify the use of “a dead or mild form of a virus” to create a vaccine (Lee, Carson-Dewitt, 2016, p.2). The distinction of the types of
Jonas Salk, a virologist at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), used inactivated viruses (virus particles grown in culture and then killed by a form of heat) to create a polio vaccine. Salk drew blood from about two million children, which the NFIP checked for immunization. Through the collection of many HeLa cells and trial and error, the polio vaccine was ready in a year.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The death rate was on the decline and life expectancy rose during this period. New medical developments were made with the federal funding of medical research in which penicillin and streptomycin were developed. These advancements in medicine have cured many bacterial infections and severe illnesses. Later, in 1952, Jonas Salk introduced a polio vaccine. There was a vast migratory pattern among many Americans during this time period.
Piddock, Charles. "Winning the War on Polio." Current Health 2 10 2004: 25-7. ProQuest. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Vaccine safety is one of the most controversial topics in today’s public discourse. Everyone has heard of them, but few know why they are so encouraged. A vaccine contains a weak or dead version of a microbe. This creates a small scale invasion of the immune system, which activates cells to destroy the microbe. Once these cells have been made they are always there to provide protection. This protection is immunity, for those cells are then able to recognize any live version of the same microbe and attack it immediately. This can save lives but also be dangerous, vaccines carry many other components which can cause side effects. These could be simple adverse effects such as a small cold or, in the rare case,
(Jane C Finlay, Noni E MacDonald, 2001). Working with Vaccine -hesitant parents. Canadian Paediatric Society. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from http://www.cps.ca
Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near removal of wild polio virus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis, and other illnesses.
Through the rise of technological advances in medicine, the vaccine has changed the world for the greater good of the human race. Making a great triumph and virtually eliminating an array of life-threatening diseases, from smallpox to diphtheria, thus adding approximately thirty years to many humans’ life spans. Although, a new complication has arisen, possibly linking neurological digression with this rise of new vaccines. Such a digression has forced parents to exempt their children from receiving vaccinations and brought forth mental anguish affecting the minds of many.
Consequently, throughout history, there has an abundant amount of cases in which individuals took a chance and benefited greatly from their accomplishments. During the 1950s, the polio epidemic had descended throughout the U.S, causing Jonas Salk to make it a necessity to discover a cure, in order, to save the lives of millions. It was not until Salk invented
“There is hope in dreams, imagination and in courage of these who wish to make dreams a reality.” Jonas Salk the creator of the Polio Vaccine once said. His imagination led to this pioneer in medical science to reducing 350,000 inevitable cases of the Polio virus in 1952 to just 223 cases in 2012. This Extraordinary feat of immense proportion cannot go unnoticed by medical science. This form of distributing medicine may damage the epidermis but it revolutionized and contributed so much to modern medicine. Like the economic and medical advancements like using vaccines to combat deadly pathogens. However controversy struck when traces of mercury “a highly toxic substance” was found in vaccines in the 20th century. Also, side effects are very present when it comes to vaccines. But controversy is unnecessary because of significant decrease of some diseases.
Michael Underwood described the paralytic symptoms of poliomyelitis first in 1789, a disease of spinal cord inflammation. Since then, numerous outbreaks have been documented throughout Europe in the early 19th century, and the first outbreak of the disease in the United States appeared in 1843. Although the disease is easily transmitted amongst children, the average age of those afflicted with polio has been steadily rising over the past few decades. The 1952 epidemic in the United States was considered one of the worst, with over 21 thousand paralytic cases reported out of over 58 thousand total. (CDC). Iconic images of the polio epidemic of the 1900s often include large rooms with arrays of iron lung cages
For innumerable centuries, unrelenting strains of disease have ravaged society. From the polio epidemic in the twentieth century to the measles cases in the latter half of the century, such an adverse component of nature has taken the lives of many. In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox could foster immunity against smallpox; through injecting the cowpox into another person’s arm, he founded the revolutionary concept known as a vaccination. While many attribute the eradication of various diseases to vaccines, many United States citizens are progressively beginning to oppose them. Many deludedly thought that measles had been completely terminated throughout the United States.
Imagine a fatal disease that you could not see, touch, cure, or hear. This deadliest disease is known as the polio virus. The polio virus causes paralysis of the arms, legs, and chest muscles. The disease used to be called “infantile paralysis”, because it was most common in children. Many could no longer walk again without the use of leg braces. Others could not breathe without the help of machines. This disease caused terror all over the world. People couldn’t figure out how it came about, who the victims would be, or how to cure it. Today, polio does not exist because of the incredible discovery of the polio vaccine. Jonas Salk freed the world from the deadly disease and the fear that encompassed it.