JONAS SALK, THE MAN WHO BEAT THE SCOURGE OF POLIO

This is another in our series on medical subjects and pioneers. Jonas Salk was born in New York City to poor Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. In 1938, while still in college, Salk began working with Dr. Thomas Francis, Jr. on an influenza vaccine.and they labored to develop an influenza vaccine for the U.S. Army. During the 1950s, he developed, tested, and refined the first successful polio vaccine. . Polio epidemics in 1916 had left about 6000 dead and 27,000 paralyzed, including President Roosevelt, in the United States. In 1952, 57,628 cases were recorded in the U.S. After the vaccine became available, polio cases in the U.S. dropped by an almost miraculous 85-90 percent in only two years.
During the 1950s, Jonas developed, tested, and refined the first successful polio vaccine. In 1955 he began immunizations and made international news as “the man who beat polio”. The polio virus could attack the nervous system and within a few hours of infection, paralysis will occur. The death rate for paralytic cases was about 5%-10%. Death usually occured when the breathing muscles become paralyzed.

Polio was sometimes hard to diagnose because of its flu-like symptoms, which include stiff neck, fever, and headache. The vaccine was first tested in monkeys, and then in patients at theWatson Home for Crippled Children. After successful tests, in 1952, Salk tested his vaccine on volunteering parties including himself, the laboratory staff, his wife, and his children. In 1954, national testing began on two million children, ages six to nine, who became known as the Polio Pioneers. On April 12, 1955, the results were announced: the vaccine was safe and effective. The Sabin vaccine which replace it had the advantage of easier delivery and became accepted in the United States after testing abroad. It was licensed in 1961 and eventually became the vaccine of choice. The last indigenous case of polio in the U.S. was reported in 1991.

In 1977, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter. During Dr. Salk's last years, he co-founded The Immune Response Corporation with Kevin Kimberlin to search for a vaccine against AIDS, and patented a p24- vaccine as "Remune". Jonas Salk died on June 23, 1995 in La Jolla, CA, at the age of 80, due to heart failure.