Who Developed the Cure for the Polio Virus

Shortly before the turn of the 20th century, the first case of paralytic polio in the United States was reported in Vermont. And what had begun as a health scare would, over the next several decades, turn into a full-blown epidemic as the virus known as infantile paralysis spread among children across the country. In 1952, the height of the hysteria, there were as many as 58,000 new cases. A Summer of Fear It was undoubtedly a scary time back then. The summer months, normally a relaxing time for many youths, was considered polio season. Children were warned to stay away from swimming pools because they could easily catch the disease by going into infected waters. And in 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was infected at age 39, helped create the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in an effort to combat the disease. Jonas Salk, Father of the First Vaccine In the late 1940s, the foundation began sponsoring the work of a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh named Jonas Salk, whose biggest achievement to date was the development of a flu vaccine that used killed viruses. Normally, weakened versions were injected to cause the immune system to produce antibodies capable of recognizing and killing the virus. Salk was able to categorize the 125 strains of the virus under three basic types and wanted to see if the same approach would also work against the Polio virus. Up to this point, researchers weren’t making progress with live viruses. Dead viruses also offered the key advantage of being less dangerous since it wouldn’t lead to inoculated people accidentally getting the disease. The challenge, though, was to be able to manufacture enough of these dead viruses to mass produce the vaccines. Fortunately, a method for making dead viruses in large quantities was discovered just a few years earlier when a team of Harvard researchers figured out how to grow them inside animal-cell tissue cultures rather than having to inject a live host. The trick was using penicillin to prevent bacteria from contaminating the tissue. Salk’s technique involved infecting monkey kidney cell cultures and then killing the virus with formaldehyde. After successfully testing the vaccine in monkeys, he began trialing the vaccine in humans, which included himself, his wife and children. And in 1954, the vaccine was field tested in almost 2 million children under the age of ten in what was the largest public health experiment in history. The results reported a year later, showed that the vaccine was safe, potent and 90 percent effective in preventing children from contracting polio. There was one hiccup, however. Administration of the vaccine was momentarily shut down after 200 people were found to have gotten polio from the vaccine. The researchers were eventually able to trace the adverse effects to a defective batch made by one drug company and vaccination efforts resumed once revised production standards were established. Sabin vs. Salk: Rivals for a Cure By 1957, the cases of new polio infections had dwindled done to under 6,000. Yet despite the dramatic results some experts still felt that Salk’s vaccine was insufficient in fully inoculating people against the disease. One researcher in particular named Albert Sabin argued that only an attenuated live-virus vaccine would confer lifetime immunity. He had been working on developing such a vaccine around the same time and was figuring out a way for it to be taken orally. While the United States backed Salk’s research, Sabin was able to get support from the Soviet Union to conduct trials of an experimental vaccine that used a live strain on the Russian population. Like his rival, Sabin also tested the vaccine on himself and his family. Despite a slight risk of vaccinations resulting in Polio, it was proven to be effective and cheaper to manufacture than Salk’s version. The Sabin vaccine was  approved for use in the U.S. in 1961 and would later replace the Salk vaccine as the standard for preventing Polio. But even to this day, the two rivals never did settle the debate over who had the better vaccine. Salk always maintained that his vaccine was the safest and Sabin would not concede that injecting a killed virus can be as effective as conventional vaccines. In either case, both scientists played a crucial role in nearly eradicating what was once a devastating condition.

The Political Ideology That Best Represents My Views

The political ideology that best represents my views is liberalism. Liberalism is an ideology that emphasizes, â€Å"cultural diversity, government programs for the needy, public intervention in the economy, and individuals’ rights to a lifestyle based on their own social and moral positions† (Morone Kersh, 2014, p. 37). In other words, liberalism promotes government assistance for individuals in need as well as protect every individual’s rights. One aspect of my life that has shaped my political views is my religious background. I grew up in a Baptist family, and used to go to church regularly. As I got older, I started going to church less and less because the things my pastor said made me feel very uncomfortable. At the time, I did not understand why I felt so uncomfortable and it was not until I got older that I realized why I felt the way I did. Majority of the time, my pastor said things that had sexist and homophobic undertones. Despite being in a holy place, I spent the duration of my time as a member of the church feeling disconnected from everything, which eventually led to me breaking ties with the church completely. My family’s financial background also helped in shaping my views. When I was younger, my family received financial assistance from the government in the form of CHIPs and food stamps. I was too young to remember how food stamps benefited my family, but I do remember the many ways in which CHIPs helped us out. For example, I grew up having terribleShow MoreRelatedDemocracy Requires Participation Essay1021 Words   |  5 Pagesyears. In many presidential elections, numerous Americans have found themselves compromising their views and voting not for the candidate with whom they resonate best, but rather for the candidate who they dislike the least. This compromise that is forced upon the electorate is a result of the two-party system on which we rely for voting simplicity. 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Chad Vonder Haar Irresponsibility is a problem with todays youth Essay Example For Students

Chad Vonder Haar: Irresponsibility is a problem with todays youth Essay Irresponsibility is a problem with todays youth. Many young men and women believe that when they turn eighteen they automatically become adults. These beliefs show how immature some adolescents are. Adulthood encompasses a great deal of independence, responsibility, and reliability. An adult is independent only if that person can live without his or her parents financial assistance. Many young adults believe that age eighteen is the appropriate age to announce their independence; but it is these same, immature youths that cannot afford to pay any bills because they attend school. Statistics show that teenagers have the majority of the wrecks in proportion to the percentage of the population they represent. Because these adolescents do not need to pay bills, they fail to realize just how much damage a vehicle can create. It is this lack of responsibility that alone can produce havoc in the lives of many people. Normal household chores like washing dishes or doing laundry can usually be used as a scale to show if a teenager is ready for an independent lifestyle. If a youth is incapable of performing typical household jobs, then he or she will not have a happy marriage or a good relationship with roommates. Work is very important to many people. One persons salary can provide food, fun, and entertainment for an entire family. The only way to enjoy life is to enjoy work, but many teenagers work in environments that provide minimal advancement and are on the bottom of the pay scale. These jobs do not provide enough money for a person to become self-sufficient. In order to demand more privileges or complete independence, one must have a job that pays well even if that person lives on a very tight budget. Without sufficient funds, one cannot be reliable. Whether reliability includes being somewhere on time or paying a bill, an adult cannot be late on a regular basis and expect respect from others. Life without parental supervision can have many benefits, but any teenager looking down the road for life to pick them up will soon be passed by. Respect is earned, and an adult should have respect for himself or herself as well as others. Adulthood includes a great deal of independence, responsibility, and reliability.