A lot of great people have walked this earth, and many of whom have made countless
contributions to change the face of medicine, and they have received glorious recognition for
their work. One of these extraordinary scientists was American Physician Dr. Jonas Edward
Salk.
Polio is a disease caused by an infectious virus called poliovirus which first invades
the gut, it’s cells then reproduces in the lining of the intestines continuing into the
bloodstream and in many patients all the way to the central nervous system which causes
paralysis in the muscles. Polio was first explained in 1798 by Michael Underwood, a
British doctor, as a disease affecting the lower parts of the body; and it was not until the
1900s that the infectious…show more content… Salk had developed the
first ever effective vaccine for poliomyelitis (The National Museum of American History).
A vaccination is injecting a disease into the body to stimulate a
specific antibody in the immune system in order fight the pathogens of that disease and
could later on be able to fight them if they ever turned up. During Salk’s college years he was
eager to study the influenza virus and the development of its vaccine; through which he and
his colleagues controlled the spread of the flu after the second world war. It became the
bases of his research in preventing poliomyelitis. He dedicated himself to developing a
vaccine made of dead poliovirus, which he discovered when working on the flu vaccine
would establish protection, preventing the risk of infecting the patients through inoculation. It
was prepared by first preparing three types of the virus grown in monkey tissue which was
later separated and stored for some time, and then killed or inactivated by the organic
compound formalin. Formalin was used to destroy the part of the virus’ cells