Jonas Edward Salk

Jonas Edward Salk : He was an American medical researcher and virologist, primarily recognized for the discovery and development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine . , coming from Russian-Jewish immigrant families .

Summary

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• 1 Biographical summary
  • 1 Studies
  • 2 Appointment
  • 3 Death
• 2 Important contributions
• 3

Biographical summary

He was born in New York , United States on October 28, 1914 . He comes from Russian-Jewish immigrant families .

Studies

Jonas Salk studied at the University of Pittsburgh in 1955 . When he was twelve years old, he entered Townsend Harris High School , a public school for intellectually gifted students. According to Oshinsky , the school, named after the founder of the City College of New York, was “a launching pad for the talented children of immigrant parents who did not have the money or family inheritance to send them to a prestigious private school.” At school he was known as a perfectionist, who “read everything he could get his hands on,” according to one of his classmates. Students had to study a four-year program in just three. As a result, most of them dropped out of school, despite its motto “study, study, study.” However, most of the graduating students achieved sufficient GPA to enter CCNY , known for being a very competitive university.

Although his parents did not have a formal education, they were determined to see their children succeed. At New York University School of Medicine he stood out not only because of his academic prowess, but because he also decided to conduct medical research instead of becoming a doctor.

Until 1955 , when the Salk vaccine was introduced , polio was considered the most dangerous public health problem in the postwar United States . The annual epidemics were increasingly devastating; The one in 1952 was the worst outbreak in the nation’s history. Of the almost 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 died and 21,269 were affected by paralysis , most of the victims being children. According to historian William O’Neill , “the public reaction was similar to that of a plague. Citizens in urban areas spent each summer in terror, the time of year when this ghastly visitor returned.” As a result, scientists embarked on a frantic race to find a way to prevent it or a cure. United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the world’s most recognized victim of this disease and founded the organization that sponsored the development of a vaccine.

Appointment

In 1947 , Salk accepted an appointment to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine . The following year, he undertook a project created by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to determine the number of different types of poliovirus. Salk saw an opportunity to extend this project to develop a polio vaccine, and, along with the research he had carried out, he devoted himself completely to this work for the next seven years. The committee selected to test the Salk vaccine was, according to O’Neill, “the most elaborate program of its kind in history, with twenty thousand physicians and public health workers, sixty-four thousand academics, and twenty thousand volunteers.” More than 1,800,000 school children were part of the testing committee. When news of the vaccine’s success became public on April 12, 1955, Salk was hailed as a “miracle worker” and the day “became almost a national holiday.” He had carried out his task solely to develop a safe and effective vaccine as quickly as possible, without concern for his personal benefit. When asked in a television interview who owned the patent for the vaccine, Salk responded: “There is no patent. Can the sun be patented?” In 1960 , he founded the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla , which today is a center for medical and scientific research. He continued to coordinate research and publish books, including Man Unfolding ( 1972 ), The Survival of the Wisest 1973 , World Population and Human Values: A New Reality ( 1981 ), and Anatomy of Reality: Merging of Intuition and Reason (1983). In his final years, Dr. Salk dedicated himself to trying to create a vaccine against AIDS .

Death

He died on June 23 , 1995 , La Jolla , San Diego , California , United States . He was buried in El Camino Memorial Park Cemetery , San Diego, California, United States.

Important contributions

The Salk vaccine was one of the first effective vaccines for immunization against a virus in general. He was fundamental in the global campaign to eradicate polio, which was then one of the most lethal diseases, especially in children. The Salk vaccine is based on the killed virus principle. This means that Salk injects a dead form of the polio virus into the patient, making it possible for the human body to develop immunity against it, without becoming seriously ill. Once immunized against that form of the virus, the body is also immunized against the most virulent form of the virus itself. In 1961 , Albert Bruce Sabin developed an orally administered vaccine, which replaced Salk’s, and in which weakened viruses were used.

Sources.

• Zamula E (1991). “A New Challenge for Former Polio Patients.” FDA Consumer 25 (5): 21–5. Poliomyelitis. Accessed March 27, 2010.
• Rose DR (2004). “Fact Sheet – Polio Vaccine Field Trial of 1954”. March of Dimes Archives. February 11, 2004. Accessed March 27, 2010.
• The Economist (August 14, 1999), page 11. Accessed March 27, 2010.
• Bookchin, Debbie, and Schumacher, Jim. The Virus and the Vaccine, Macmillan (2004). Accessed March 27, 2010.
• Oshinsky, David M. Polio: An American Story, Oxford Univ. Press (2006). Accessed March 27, 2010.