Who developed the attenuated virus vaccine for polio

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In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Poliomyelitis is caused by an enterovirus that in rare cases invades the nervous system and damages motor neurons, causing permanent disability, paralysis or death.

Today, the disease has been eradicated from all but a handful of countries, thanks to two types of polio vaccine developed in the s: an injected vaccine containing inactivated virus, originally developed by researchers led by Jonas Salk, and an oral vaccine containing live attenuated virus, originally developed by Albert Sabin and colleagues.

Researchers had been attempting to develop a polio vaccine since the s, but early efforts were either ineffective or too risky. A key milestone occurred in , when Thomas Weller, John Enders, and Frederick Robbins demonstrated that poliovirus could be grown in the laboratory using skin and muscle tissues from human embryos Milestone 9.

This meant that the virus no longer needed to be grown in live monkeys, facilitating its production in the necessary quantities for vaccine testing and production. The three researchers shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Jonas Salk developed his inactivated polio vaccine by growing the virus in monkey kidney cells, then killing the virus with formalin.

A placebo-controlled trial in involving 1. However, antibody levels in vaccinated individuals decreased within a few years, so whether the inactivated vaccine would provide permanent protection was unclear. Meanwhile, researchers learned in the s that passaging poliovirus repeatedly through rodents and then through cell culture resulted in strains that were less virulent. The University of Pittsburgh recruited Dr. Jonas Salk to develop a research program that used a culture method of growing the virus.

Salk, a graduate of New York University School of Medicine, dedicated his life to vaccine studies and making a positive impact on the world. Approximately 3, people died and almost 60, were reported to have contracted the virus. The following year, , Salk and his associates developed a potentially safe, injectable polio vaccine. Once the development was made public, nearly two million children participated in field trails. Despite the incredible success of the polio vaccination, Salk never patented his discovery.

Additionally, Salk never made a profit. A more than noble gesture that made the polio vaccine available to everyone. March of Dimes is a non-profit organization that helps research the biggest health threats to mothers and newborn babies.

In only 42 cases of polio were reported and a powdered vaccine has created further hope to eradicate the disease. Do you have any questions about polio? Unsure if you need the vaccination for an upcoming trip? Passport Health can help. Give us a call at or book an appointment online. Did you know the vaccine for polio relied on over a century of research? What is vaccine-associated paralytic polio? Where do vaccine-derived polioviruses come from, and should I be concerned if there is a case in the United States?

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