In one of the greatest moments in modern medical science, American microbiologist Jonas Salk, April 12, 1955 delivered safely its vaccine against polio newly invented and effective in almost 0% of cases. Salk discovered that injecting a small amount of killed virus induces the body to produce protective antibodies without causing polio, a disease that caused permanent paralysis, particularly in children, since the time of the Ancient Egypt.
Salk identified the three main varieties of poliovirus, developed a killed virus vaccine tested in monkeys and in May 1952 conducted a test on the massive human terrain of over 400,000 children - the most largest medical experiment ever conducted in the United States. After the success was proclaimed in 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was administered to more than 0 million people in the United States, and the incidence of polio has dropped from 96% in 1961. Salk vaccine finally was replaced by a more effective live oral vaccine developed by Albert Sabin competitor and distributed worldwide. Some 2,000 cases of polio were reported last year, most of which were in the Indian subcontinent and the former Soviet Union
[Source:EmilyMcMurrayEd Notable Twentieth Century scientists (Gale Research Inc., ITP, 1995).]
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