Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio
by Jeffrey Kluger | Science | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0425205703 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0425205703 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
From The Journal of Clinical Investigation: "... Few medical histories are as compelling as the story of the conquest of poliomyelitis. This viral disease suddenly emerged in epidemic form at the turn of the 20th century, causing paralysis and death, mainly in children. With unrelenting predictability, the disease began each year in the spring, and the number of cases inevitably increased with the onset of hot weather. Poliomyelitis was truly a terror because no one quite understood how it was transmitted or how it could be prevented and its victims were seemingly chosen at random. Beginning in 1906, when the virus that causes poliomyelitis — poliovirus — was identified, many scientists worked to defeat the disease. The story of its conquest is filled with trial and many errors, a “scientific hegira," in the words of polio researcher Dorothy Horstmann, that has been well documented in many scientific publications and books ... The terror once caused by polio, now mostly forgotten, is vividly portrayed at the onset of Splendid solution, which begins in New York City in 1916. The sources of hysteria are all too evident: nurses and policemen surreptitiously roaming the streets in search of lame children; black cars patrolling neighborhoods, bringing doctors who search homes for paralyzed children (the mothers “did not surrender their sick babies easily, often cursing the city physicians as soon as they arrived”). Quarantining children in city hospitals in an attempt to stem the disease was a disruptive practice at best and had no benefit. Many years later, it became clear that paralytic cases represent a small fraction of all infected individuals; for each paralytic case, there were 99 individuals infected with the virus but displaying no symptoms of the disease ... the remarkable story of the conquest of polio prevails. Salk’s inactivated vaccine reduced the incidence of poliomyelitis in the US from 57,879 cases in 1952 to 1,312 cases in 1961. As a result, Salk became a cultural hero, an unusual role for a scientist. In a cruel twist, Salk’s vaccine was pushed aside in 1962, when the US switched to the live vaccines developed by Sabin. Salk spent many years and much energy defending and promoting his vaccine, a chapter in the history of poliomyelitis that Kluger omits. Sadly, Salk did not live to witness the change in US immunization policy in 2000, when the live poliovirus vaccine was replaced with Salk’s splendid solution ..."
Regardless of your stance on vaccinations, the story is very interesting, and the writing very understandable for general reading public, though it involves a lot of science and investigative techniques.
Offered as RABCK at the 2020 RABCK Thread (Link to Forum Thread)
July 27, 2020: Claimed by "glade1" and has been mailed.
Regardless of your stance on vaccinations, the story is very interesting, and the writing very understandable for general reading public, though it involves a lot of science and investigative techniques.
Offered as RABCK at the 2020 RABCK Thread (Link to Forum Thread)
July 27, 2020: Claimed by "glade1" and has been mailed.
Received in the mail today. Thanks for the RABCK!
