Poliomyelitis

Poliomyelitis ("polio"), or infantile paralysis, is a viral paralytic disease. The causative agent, a virus called poliovirus (PV), enters the body orally, infecting the intestinal lining. It may proceed to the blood stream and into the central nervous system causing muscle weakness and often paralysis.

Scandals

There were two proposed vaccines introduced before Jonas Salk's vaccine in 1953. In 1935 Maurice Brody, a research assistant at New York University, claimed to have discovered a vaccine procured from ground up monkey spinal cords. He tested the vaccine on himself and several of his assistants. He gave the vaccine to three thousand children and many had developed allergic reactions, but no immunity to polio. Other researchers could not replicate his experiment.

Related Topics:
Jonas Salk - Vaccine - Maurice Brody

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John Kolmer also claimed to have developed a vaccine, and not only was that false, but it proved to be fatal to many children.

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The Simian Virus known as SV40 was also present in many polio vaccines from 1954 to 1962. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have taken the lead in responding to questions on SV40 and polio vaccine. CDC states that SV40 markers have been found in certain types of human cancers, but it has not been determined if SV40 plays any role in these cancers. A recent report published by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that ?the evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship between SV40 containing polio vaccines and cancer.? There is a need for further research to answer questions that have been raised concerning this possible relationship.

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More detailed information on SV40 and the polio vaccine can be found at the CDC Web site.

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