Polio: An American Story

The Race to Cure Polio

In this highly engaging historical narrative, Historian David M. Oshinsky highlights the race for a vaccine for poliomyetitis. The story is one of tragedy and triumph, controversy and concensus.

What makes this story worth telling? The triumph over Polio in the United States

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during the post-war period represents a landmark in the history of medicine and technology, of human progress. The process that led to the Salk and Sabine vaccines is a true American success story, borne out of the good old American values of hard work and determination.

The story of how America conquered Polio is not without its controversies and skeptics. There was a real sense both at the time and looking back that "Polio had been oversold as a menace to public health" (p.239). That the Dimes March On campaign, the posters with the poor suffering children, had created a false panic. That this relatively uncommon disease had been turned into a public-relations media blitz which threatened the ethics of scientific research. It was the first campaign of its kind, and though controversial as it was, it was ultimately successful through its relentless advertising, fund-raising and lobbying efforts; it helped pave the way for all future disease awareness campaigns.

At the heart of Oshinsky's narrative is the intense competition between rivals Jonas Salk and Albert Sabine over the race to a vaccine. Salk was the first to come up with his killed-virus vaccine but not without his critics who labeled Salk a quack and sell-out for rushing to market his vaccine. Oshinsky calls the 1954 Salk polio vaccine field trials, "the biggest medical gamble in history" (p.189). And indeed it was, and almost failed miserably after the Cutter fiasco where 1 pharmacy manufacturer had mishandled the production of the Salk vaccine allowing some live viruses to mix with the production batch.

Oshinsky further provides insights into the ethical dilemmas all scientists face such as conducting vaccination trials on "volunteers" and the treatment of lab animals. The story is not so black and white as it may appear.

It is also worth noting that during the period, 1945-1956, regulation of public health was nowhere near the level it is today in the United States.

Overall, Oshinsky delivers both as a Historian and a great storyteller. Oshinsky is well deserving of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in history for this significant contribution to the scientific and social history of the post-war US period.

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The tortured history of a disease that devastated thousands. This book describes the history of the disease and attempts to cure it, and all the political infighting that resulted. Of course, any history of polio will be overshadowed by perhaps its most famous sufferer - Franklin D. Roosevelt - and

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this book is in a way his story, too. Recommended for people who enjoy books about medical discovery.

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Great audiobook. Fascinating look at the race to stop Polio in the US and abroad.

Going into this book, I knew very little about the efforts to eliminate polio in the United States. I'd heard of Jonas Salk but knew nothing about his background or the contribution of other scientists to polio research. This book is an excellent, in-depth look at how polio became the most feared

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disease in the U.S. (ahead of other, more common and fatal diseases). It details FDR's own struggle with polio, the creation of the March of Dimes, and the race for a vaccine.

I do not have any medical background, so I was pleased that I was able to read this book without feeling bogged down by overly scientific discussions of the disease or the efforts to prevent it. Someone with a medical background might have greater appreciation for some of the critical but not hugely publicized breakthroughs in polio research. For example, the overview of John Enders' method of growing polio in different tissues didn't really resonate with me as a huge breakthrough - but the book argues that it was one of the most important discoveries in the effort to find a vaccine (and in fact, the researchers won a Nobel Prize for that discovery). That section felt a little dry to me, but in retrospect, it was a very relevant part of the story. Really, the only thing the layperson needs to be able to understand is the difference between a live virus vaccine and a killed virus vaccine, which I (as a layperson) had no difficulty understanding. Some of the nuance was undoubtedly lost on me, but the author does an excellent job of distilling the necessary facts and explaining them well.

I was also very surprised by the feud between Salk and Sabin (another polio researcher). The book does a great job of explaining how Salk became a popular scientist while Sabin earned the respect of the scientific community. This, plus the in-depth account of the national Salk vaccine trial, is what makes the book such an absorbing read. I highly recommend it for non-fiction fans.

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This is a very interesting look back over the disease of polio and the research into it. Reads more like a fiction novel.

When was the last time you heard the word “polio?” It was probably in reference to a vaccine, not the disease. So thoroughly have the effects of polio vaccination been felt that less than 2,000 cases exist each year and only in remote regions of Nigeria, India, and Pakistan. Ridding the world

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of it forever (in other words, complete eradication, like with smallpox) is in sight.

Polio once caused swimming pools and movie theaters to shut down in order to prevent possible venues to transmit disease, so Oshinsky tells us in this well-told history. The verification of the Salk vaccine produced utter euphoria in America and amplified the American ethic of can-do-know-how-ism.

He also shares the tale of the rivalry between polio virologists Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin (and truth be told, other virologists as well). Both deserve credit for their cure and for their respective work, each producing an effective vaccine. However, both had different methods, different audiences, and different attitudes. Fortunately for us, each vaccine could serve its part to contribute to the global effort to eradicate polio – even if their respective inventors could not get along.

As such, this book teaches functions not merely as another history of disease but also as an important commentary on the culture of science. It teaches us how to get along and how to work together – especially when we work differently than the people sitting next to us. This intricately human story should not perish among the annals of American history.

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