Although less than 1% of infections caused paralysis, the scale of polio outbreaks was so large that many children were still seriously ill. iron lung. The body below the neck can remain trapped for days, months, or even years. The patients Zoglan treated were still contagious, and she and her fellow nurses were told the only way to protect them was through rigorous hand washing. “We washed our hands every time we touched the patient. I remember when I went home at night, my hands were so sore and rough,” she said.
Polio struck mostly children, but no one was safe. Future President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then a rising political star, contracted a virus in 1921 at the age of 39 that left him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. While in office, he made the fight against polio his own campaign, founding the March of Dimes in 1938. polio charity work It will fundamentally overturn the traditional funding model. Instead of asking for large donations from a few people, they asked for small donations from many, many people, and raised hundreds of millions of dollars.
By the late 1940s, scientists showed that polio entered the bloodstream through the intestines. At the same time, two researchers entered the race to develop a vaccine, each taking very different paths. doctor albert sabinThe professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine had already spent 20 years researching polioviruses and believed in proceeding slowly and cautiously, according to . David M. Osinskiauthor of Polio: An American Story. “He considered himself a scientist’s scientist… working in a lab, never going outside, making discoveries one by one with building blocks,” he said in a 2014 BBC documentary.
Meanwhile, Salk, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, had already successfully produced an influenza vaccine for the military during World War II. Importantly, he had the support of the March of Dimes, who were eager for progress. Dr. Paul Offit of the Center for Vaccine Education in Philadelphia told the BBC how Salk worked with the speed and focus of a pharmaceutical company, a style that challenged traditional ideas about how scientists behave. “Mr. Salk and Mr. Sabin had fundamental differences over what would make the best vaccine. Mr. Salk thought it was a virus that could be completely killed, and Mr. Sabin thought it was a virus that could be attenuated,” he said.
Source: BBC Culture – www.bbc.com
