Polio - History Of Vaccines

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PolioPoliomyelitis

Overview
Timeline

An infectious disease that once terrorized parents the world over is now on the verge of being eradicated.

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Chapters

Polio Arrives to America
The Search for a Polio Vaccine
The Polio Vaccine Arrives
Polio Is Marked for Eradication
The Last Vestiges of Polio

Chapter 1Polio Arrives to America

The first polio epidemic in 1894 was just the beginning of a yearly threat to the public from an unseen threat.

June 17, 1894First U.S. Polio Epidemic

1905Contagious Nature of Polio Discovered

Cells showing changes due to a polio infection
Distribution of polio in United States, 1910

In Vienna, Karl Landsteiner, MD (1868-1943), and Erwin Popper, MD (1879-1955), announced that the infectious agent in polio was a virus.

Popper and Landsteiner deduced the viral nature of polio by carefully filtering preparations of spinal cord fluid from a person who had died of polio. The filters were known to trap bacteria. When Popper and Landsteiner injected the filtered preparations into monkeys, the monkeys developed polio. The researchers then concluded that an infectious particle smaller than bacteria caused the disease.

Poliovirus itself would not be visible to researchers until the 1950s, when the electron microscope was available.

June 17, 1916New York City Polio Epidemic

August 8, 1921Polio Strikes FDR

Chapter 2The Search for a Polio Vaccine

The polio virus was unseen and unknown until certain key events helped pave the way for a vaccine.

1931More Than One Type of Poliovirus Proposed

1936Growing Poliovirus in Human Nervous Tissue

1938March of Dimes Born

1941Poliovirus in Digestive System

1948Koprowski Tests Polio Vaccine on Himself

1949Bodian Finds Three Types of Poliovirus

1952Polio Cases Surge

Peter Salk receiving the polio vaccine from his father, Jonas Salk, in 1953 March of Dimes Foundation

Salk injected himself, his wife, and their three sons with his experimental poliovirus vaccine.

Chapter 3The Polio Vaccine Arrives

Big breakthroughs bring two highly effective and safe vaccines.

April 25, 1954Massive Polio Vaccine Trial Begins in U.S.

Polio vaccine and workers, 1963 CDC/Mr. Stafford Smith
Thomas Francis Jr., MD, and Jonas E. Salk, MD, at polio evaluation meeting, 1955

In a press conference at the University of Michigan, Thomas Francis Jr., MD (a scientist with extensive experience with influenza vaccines), and colleagues announced the results of the Salk poliovirus vaccine trial. The vaccine, they said, was 80-90% effective against paralytic polio.

The U.S. government licensed Salk’s vaccine later this same day. The press conference and licensure paved the way for widespread distribution and use of the vaccine.

1959Soviet Trials of Sabin's Live Poliovirus Vaccine

August 24, 1960Sabin's Polio Vaccine Licensed

Chapter 4Polio Is Marked for Eradication

Following the footsteps of the smallpox eradication program, the polio eradication campaign begins with some successes.

1985Goal Set for Polio Elimination in the Americas

1988Global Polio Eradication Initiative

This boy, Luis Fermin Tenorio, is the last known case of polio in the Americas. Peru, 1991.

On August 20, 1994, the Pan American Health Organization had reported that three years had passed since the last case of wild polio in the Americas. A three-year-old Peruvian boy, Luis Fermín, had the last registered case there.

The International Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication in the Americas examined this report as well as extensively reviewing lab and surveillance data. Based on the results of these analyses, wild poliovirus was declared eliminated from the Americas in September 1994, making the Americas the first World Health Organization Region to meet the goal of polio elimination.

1997Massive Vaccination Efforts in India

1998Polio Immunization Efforts in Sudan

June 21, 2002Polio Eliminated in Europe

Fourteen years after the launch of the global eradication program, the World Health Organization declared polio eliminated in Europe on June 6, 2002.

The last case of wild polio in Europe occurred in a young boy. Melik Minas, who lived in Turkey, contracted polio in November 1998. Minas, who had not been vaccinated, was paralyzed as a result of the infection—although he did partially recover.

March 27, 2014South-East Asia Region Polio-Free

April 17, 2016Type 2 Oral Polio Vaccine Discontinued

Chapter 5The Last Vestiges of Polio

As of October 2022, naturally acquired polio is only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Types 2 and 3 do not occur naturally anymore, though they can occur from vaccine shedding. It is from that vaccine shedding that polio is being detected in places outside of Afghanistan. The push is on to get rid of the last vestiges of polio and declare all three types eradicated once and for all.

June 1, 2022Vaccine-Derived Polio Is Found in London's Wastewater Surveillance Samples

Surveillance of wastewater in London suggests vaccine-derived polio is being shed into the system by people who have been vaccinated with the live oral polio vaccine.Read more

July 1, 2022Polio Returns to New York City

A case of paralytic polio in a New York City resident sparked a robust public health response that included a disaster declaration from the Governor of New York.Read more

Tag » When Was The Polio Outbreak In The Us