Polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk, born October 28, 1914, saved the lives of untold millions (though he never got a Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work). Here’s a glimpse at his race to eradicate a deadly disease:
In the days before Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine, the virus paralyzed thousands of children every year. Cases reached a peak in 1952, with more than 21,000 children paralyzed. Paralysis occurs in polio when the virus enters the central nervous system and destroys motor neurons. Credit: Yousuf Karsh/www.karsh.org
Jonas Salk with zoologist Elsie Ward and lab technician Ethel Bailey in the laboratory. The polio virus had been first isolated in 1909, but to make a vaccine, Salk and his team had to sort through 125 different strains of the virus, which they found could be sorted into three different types. An effective vaccine would have to protect against all three types of the virus. Credit: Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine Collection, 1917-2005, UA.90.F89, University Archives, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Salk was convinced that the proper approach to a vaccine was to use a killed poliovirus. Another scientist, Albert Sabin, thought it was better to use weakened viruses in a vaccine design. Both approaches have their pros and cons: Salk’s vaccine is safer, but is more expensive to produce. And the Salk vaccine does not provide much immunity to a person’s intestines; an immunized person could still be infected with the virus and spread it through their feces (though they themselves won’t get sick). Credit: March of Dimes
Jonas Salk (R) and Percival Bazeley (L), ca. 1954-1955. Bazeley was part of the team that developed the vaccine, and later headed up the effort to produce and distribute it in Australia.Credit: Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine Collection, 1917-2005, UA.90.F89, University Archives, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
The Salk vaccine was picked for a massive, nationwide testing in the U.S. starting in 1954. By 1955, the vaccine was announced as safe and 90 percent effective. Polio cases started taking a nosedive: In 1955, there were 28,985 cases of polio; in 1956, there were 14,647 cases; in 1957, just 5,894.
Salk with journalist Edward R. Murrow. When Murrow asked Salk who owned the patent to the polio vaccine, Salk responded: “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”Credit: March of Dimes
Today, the once-prevalent scourge of polio is almost entirely gone from the face of the Earth. According to the Polio Global Eradication Initiative, there have been just 247 cases in 2014, mostly in Pakistan. 2014 is also the first year that Southeast Asia has been certified as polio-free.Credit: March of Dimes
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