How Long Did Polio Vaccine Trials Take?

Even after identifying the virus that caused polio, it took

another 40 years

to get vaccine trials up and running.

How long did they test the polio vaccine?

The results were tracked by volunteers using pencils and paper. And it lasted just

one year

, with officials hopeful at the outset that they would be able to begin giving the vaccine to children within weeks of the final results.

How long did it take Jonas Salk to develop the polio vaccine?

In 1947, Salk accepted a professorship in the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. It was there that he undertook a project to determine the number of different types of poliovirus, starting in 1948. For the next

seven years

, Salk devoted himself towards developing a vaccine against polio.

What vaccine was given in a sugar cube?

Millions of Americans got those sugar cubes. Getting

the polio vaccine

to the public required a national mobilization. It was a long time ago, but there is still a memory of doses of the sugary tasting drink in a small cup and the sugar cube delivery system.

Where did polio originally come from?

The first epidemics appeared in the form of outbreaks of at least 14 cases

near Oslo, Norway

, in 1868 and of 13 cases in northern Sweden in 1881. About the same time the idea began to be suggested that the hitherto sporadic cases of infantile paralysis might be contagious.

When did they stop giving polio vaccine in us?

The first polio vaccine was available in the United States in 1955. Thanks to widespread use of polio vaccine, the United States has been polio-free since

1979

.

Why did polio vaccine leave a scar?

The smallpox vaccine

What vaccine was given in the 70s?

During the 1970s, one vaccine was eliminated. Because of successful eradication efforts, the

smallpox vaccine

What animal did polio come from?

The discovery by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper in 1908 that polio was caused by a virus, a discovery made by inoculating

macaque monkeys

with an extract of nervous tissue from polio victims that was shown to be free of other infectious agents.

Can you get polio after being vaccinated?

Do people still get polio in the United States?

No

, thanks to a successful vaccination program, the United States has been polio-free for more than 30 years, but the disease still occurs in other parts of the world.

How did polio spread from person to person?

Polio is spread when

the stool of an infected person is introduced into the mouth of another person through contaminated water or food

(fecal-oral transmission). Oral-oral transmission by way of an infected person’s saliva may account for some cases.

Do adults need a polio booster?

Routine poliovirus vaccination of U.S. adults (i.e., persons aged >18 years)

is not necessary

. Most adults do not need polio vaccine because they were already vaccinated as children and their risk of exposure to polioviruses in the United States is minimal.

What are the risks of polio vaccine?

Side effects include

fever and redness or soreness at the injection site

. There is a very small chance of an allergic reaction with any vaccine. The IPV vaccine contains a killed (inactivated) virus, so it cannot cause polio.

When was the last case of polio in the United States?

Since 1979, no cases of polio have originated in the U.S. However, the virus has been brought into the country by travelers with polio. The last time this happened was in

1993

.

Do they still give the smallpox vaccine?

The

vaccine

helps the body develop immunity to smallpox. It was successfully used to eradicate smallpox from the human population. Routine vaccination of the American public against smallpox stopped in 1972 after the disease was eradicated in the United States.

Did adults get polio vaccine in the 1950s?