Inventions and Inventors Volume 1 - Online Public Access Catalog

584 / Polio vaccine (Sabin)
Consequences
The development of polio vaccines ranks as one of the triumphs of
modern medicine. In the early 1950’s, paralytic polio struck 13,500
out of every 100 million Americans. The use of the Salk vaccine
greatly reduced the incidence of polio, but outbreaks of paralytic disease
continued to occur: Fifty-seven hundred cases were reported in
1959 and twenty-five hundred cases in 1960. In 1962, the oral Sabin
vaccine became the vaccine of choice in the United States. Since its
widespread use, the number of paralytic cases in the United States
has dropped precipitously, eventually averaging fewer than ten per
year. Worldwide, the oral vaccine prevented an estimated 5 million
cases of paralytic poliomyelitis between 1970 and 1990.
The oral vaccine is not without problems. Occasionally, the living
virus mutates to a disease-causing (virulent) form as it multiplies in
the vaccinated person. When this occurs, the person may develop
paralytic poliomyelitis. The inactive vaccine, in contrast, cannot
mutate to a virulent form. Ironically, nearly every incidence of polio
in the United States is caused by the vaccine itself.
In the developing countries of the world, the issue of vaccination is
more pressing. Millions receive neither form of polio vaccine; as a result,
at least 250,000 individuals are paralyzed or die each year. The World
Health Organization and other health providers continue to work toward
the very practical goal of completely eradicating this disease.
See also Antibacterial drugs; Birth control pill; Iron lung; Penicillin;
Polio vaccine (Salk); Reserpine; Salvarsan; Tuberculosis vaccine;
Typhus vaccine; Yellow fever vaccine.
Further Reading
DeJauregui, Ruth. 100 Medical Milestones That Shaped World History.
San Mateo, Calif.: Bluewood Books, 1998.
Grady, Denise. “As Polio Fades, Dr. Salk’s Vaccine Re-emerges.”
New York Times (December 14, 1999).
Plotkin, Stanley A., and Edward A. Mortimer. Vaccines. 2d ed. Philadelphia:
W. B. Saunders, 1994.
Seavey, Nina Gilden, Jane S. Smith, and Paul Wagner. A Paralyzing
Fear: The Triumph over Polio in America. New York: TV Books, 1998.