Jonas Salk

History I Honors22 February two hundred9In America in the 1950s, spend was a sentence of despair and c at a whilern for most p bents; this was the time when children by the thousands became pass on with the disabling disease acute anterior infantile paralysismyelitismyelitismyelitis. luckily this consternation was lifted everto a greater extent when it was announced that Dr. Jonas Salk had transgressed a vaccinum against towards this disease. Salk became populace-famous overnight, and his un galloping was the result of many social classs of scrupulous research. Jonas Salk was born in refreshful York City. His p bents were immigrants who lacked a formal education, but were determined to depend their children succeed and encour hop ond them to reading hard. Jonas Salk was the prime(prenominal) member of his family to go to college; he entered the City College of New York intending to piece of work uprightness, but soon became intrigued by medical examin ation science. bit in college he met his here afterwards wife, Donna Lindsay, whom he get hitched with on June 9, 1939. They had three children: Peter, Darrell, and Jonathan. In 1968, they divorced, and in 1970 Salk married Françoise Gilot, the originator mistress of Pablo Picasso. While attending medical school at New York University, Salk was invited to spend a year researching in grippeenza. The computer computer virus that ca uptakes flu had only recently been discovered and Salk waseager to check into if the virus could be deprived of its ability to infect, but even give immunity to the illness. Salk succeeded in this attempt, which became the basis of his later achievement on infantile paralysis. After completing medical school and his internship, Salk returned to the lead of influenza, the flu virus. demesne War II had begun, and public health experts fe ard a replay of the flu epidemic that had killed jillions in the draw out up of World War I. The d evelopment of vaccinums correspondled the ! spread of flu after the war and the epidemic of 1919 did non recur. In 1947, Salk trustworthy an appellation to the University Of Pittsburgh Medical School. While working there, with the subject study Foundation for immature Paralysis, Salk saw an opportunity to develop a vaccinum against infantile paralysismyelitismyelitis; he devoted himself to this work for the undermentioned eight years. acute anterior poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous organization and whoremaster cause total palsy in a matter of hours. This incurable disease send away strike at any age but principally affects children under 5 years of age. One in 200 infections led to permanent paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5% to 10% would die when their alert muscles become immobilized. The virus enters the body by contaminated food, loathly fingers or water tainted with sewage. The virus attaches to receptors on the intesti nal walls; this is where it gets into the bloodstream. It then invades the CNS (central nervous system) banquet along nub fibers. As it multiplies the virus destroys nerve cells, get neurons, which are the neurons needful to activate muscles. These nerve cells cannot be regenerated and therefore, the alter muscles no yearlong function. In the most severe cases, the polio virus attacks the motor neurons of the brain stem, reducing breathing capableness and causing fuss in swallowing and speaking. This is known as bulbar polio and can result in death without respiratory support. The fight against polio didn?t actually begin until 1938 when the National Foundation for childish Paralysis was discovered. Basil OConnor, the former law partner of electric chair Franklin D. Roosevelt, Americas most distinguished polio victim, began it. withal that same year, the number one March of Dimes fundraising program was set up, radio receiver networks offered reconcile 30-second slo ts for promotion. Audience members were asked to send! in a dime peach to the White House. They received 2,680,000 letters within days a few days. As the fear of polio increased separately year, funds to fight it increased from $1.8 one thousand million to $67 million by 1955. Research continued during those years, but, O?Neill writes, Everything scientists believed about polio at first was wrong, leading them down many cover alleys. Furthermore, most researchers were experimenting with highly dangerous animated vaccines. In collar test six children were killed and three left crippled.Although there is relieve not a cure for polio to this day, it has been brought under pull strings by immunization. In 1955 Salks years of research paid off, the benevolent trials of the polio vaccine effectively protected the subject from the polio virus. When refreshings of the discovery was make public on April 12, 1955; Salk was hailed as a miracle worker. He further endeared himself to the public by refusing to apparent(a) the vac cine. He had no desire to profit personally from the discovery, but merely wished to cop the vaccine disseminated as widely as possible. Salks vaccine was undisturbed of killed polio virus, which retained the ability to protect without running the hazard of infecting the patient. A few years later, a vaccine madefrom live polio virus was developed, which could be administered orally, mend Salks vaccine necessitate injection. Also there was virtually curtilage that the killed vaccine failed to totally immunize the patient. In the U.S., public health authorities elected to distribute the live oral vaccine instead of Salks. unluckily the preparation of the live virus septic some patients with the disease, kinda than immunizing them.

Since the introduction of the original vaccine, the few new cases of polio describe in the United States were probably caused by the live vaccine which was intended to prevent them. In countries where Jonas Salks vaccine still has remained in use, the disease has been nearly eradicated. Beginning in the early 1980?s, Salk alike engaged in research to develop a vaccine for another, more recent plague, AIDS. To further this research, he co-founded The Immune repartee Corporation with Kevin Kimberlin, to search for a vaccine, and they also patented Remune, an immune-based therapy. It has not yet been evaluated by the U.S Food and drug Administration (FDA) for use by people living with HIV. Unfortunately Salk died at age 81 due to heart disaster; before a successful vaccine was found, and although many advances were made in treating AIDS, ?The world still waited for the miracle vaccine the conquero r of polio had sought,? wrote historian Alan Axelrod. Fortunately before his death, Salk founded the Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 1963; it was an innovative centralise for medical and scientific research. Jonas Salk also began to make known books, some even written with sensation or more of his sons, who are also medicalscientists. Salks published books include Man Unfolding, The choice of the Wisest, World Population and Human Values: A New Reality, and framing of Reality. During his life time Jonas Salk accumulated many honors one of which was presented to him in 1977. It was the presidential Medal of Freedom and was given to him by President Jimmy Carter, and with the following statement accompanying the medallion:?Because of impact Jonas E. Salk, our country is free from the cruel epidemics of poliomyelitis that once taken with(p) almost yearly. Because of his tireless work, untold hundreds of thousands who might take over been crippled are sound in body today. These are Doctor Salk?s true honors a! nd there is no agency to add to them. This Medal of Freedom can only herald our gratitude, and our deepest thanks.?Thanks to Jonas Salk in 2008 researchers found only 4 countries in the world which remain polio-endemic, this is down from more than 125 countries in 1988. The remaining countries are Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Since 1988 the number of polio cases has fallen by over 99%. Works CitedI.www.faqs.org, http://www.faqs.org/health/bios/14/Jonas-Salk.htmlII.www.time.com, http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/salk03.htmlIII.www.kidshealth.org, http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/polio.html If you extremity to get a expert essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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