Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine
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Polio is the commonly used term for Poliomyelitis, a “viral disease that can cause paralysis or death when it invades motor neurons” (About 1). Like all viruses, there is no cure for polio, a disease to which children are especially susceptible. Thanks to a variety of vaccines developed in the 1940s and 1950s, incidences of new cases of the viral disease “peaked in the US in the 1950s” (About 1). When it comes to the cause of poliomyelitis, researchers have discovered that the disease is the result of a virus off the genus Enterovirus. Enterovirus invades the RNA of humans, a virus that is commonly transmitted through the oral/fecal route. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and other environmental factors are responsible for the spread of the virus, which causes the serious illness of polio which can be spread by close contact like kissing or from contaminated drinking water. Once the virus gains access to the body, it begins to reproduce in the gastrointestinal tract. From there it enters the bloodstream and is permitted access to other regions of the body. The virus responsible for poliomyelitis is thought to have been in existence since Biblical times, but it was not until the early 19th century that epidemics of polio began to occur. Approximately 1% to 2% of people infected with the polio virus develop neurologic signs and symptoms (About 3). The symptoms associa
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n did Sister Elizabeth Kenney. Sister Kenney developed and promoted a technique for treating polio that was based on rehabilitation techniques. Through a combination of hot packs and re-educating the muscles, Kenney argued that victims of polio could regain muscle control. Her methods were virulently attacked by the medical and scientific communities who believed that her methods were futile in the face of the etiology of the disease. Still, Elizabeth Kenney’s methods were proven successful in many polio patients, and while her daily muscle routines were painful they were effective in keeping paralyzed muscles from atrophying.
d. Economic and Medical Reaction
By 1949, the March of Dimes had raised more than $30 million to combat polio (Timeline 9). A large portion of these funds were used to build centers to house the large numbers of polio patients in the US. Rehabilitation was carried out at these centers. By the early 1950s, the National Foundation had allocated $14.5 million to text gamma globulin as a possible means of fighting polio (Timeline 11). However, this method was in contrast to the oral vaccine being developed by Sabin and the one administered in the arm developed by Salk.
By 1954, Jonas Salk had deve
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Approximate Word count = 2349
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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