Arts & Life

How Jews Eradicated Polio

On the 50th anniversary of the Salk polio vaccine, book examines history
behind a groundbreaking medical breakthrough.

BILL CARROLL

Special to the Jewish News

explained in an interview. "Actually,
polio was a relatively uncommon dis-
round the middle of
ease, not exactly the raging epidemic
the 20th century,
portrayed by the new media at that
many Jewish children
time. But remember, America was
and other youngsters in the
going through a post-war baby boom
Detroit area were somewhat
then, and for the family-oriented
distraught on Labor Day
population, the specter of polio —
each year. It signified that
like the specter of the new atomic
the start of a new school
bomb — produced a fear over daily
year, ending a fun-filled,
life."
leisurely summer, was just a
He selects San Angelo, Texas;
day or two away.
Hickory,
N.C.; and the Iowa farm
Polio:
An
American
Story
But often in the 1940s and
belt for graphic descriptions of how
(Oxford University Press;
early 1950s, that vacation
polio swept through the American
$19.80), written by Jewish
was unexpectedly extended
landscape, at first afflicting only one
author David M. Oshinsky,
— for an undesirable reason:
youngster, then another — mainly
a noted historian and histo-
an epidemic of the nation's
boys — then spreading like a tornado
ry professor at the
most feared disease,
Jonas and Donna Salk and their three children — Jonathan,
to terrorize parents and shut down
University of Texas.
poliomyelitis, had spread
5; Peter, 11 and Darrell, 8 — relaxing in Ann Arbor on
communities. There are now only iso-
Commemorative
pro-
into the community.
April 11, 1955, the day before the announcement of a safe
lated
cases of the disease in various
grams
also
were
held
earlier
The viral plague brought
and effective polio vaccine.
parts of the world.
this month at both U-M
fear, anxiety and a sense of
Along the way, Oshinsky describes
and University of
dread to Detroiters and oth-
sight of toddlers struggling to use leg
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's
Pittsburgh. Salk worked for six years
ers throughout America as thousands
braces and hospital wards lined wall-
behind-the-scenes role in launching
at U-M's School of Public Health
of children became infected with the
to-wall with iron lungs.
the polio crusade by forming the
then did most of his painstaking
crippling disease. But polio also had
And
the
hero
was
a
Jewish
physi-
National
Foundation for Infantile
research
at
Pittsburgh.
He
returned
to
bound the nation together in an
cian, Dr. Jonas Salk, a native New
Paralysis in the 1930s with fund-rais-
Ann Arbor for the announcement of
unprecedented and ultimately suc-
Yorker, the son of Russian immi-
ing expert Basil O'Connor. They
the successful Salk vaccine, as
cessful crusade to break its deadly
grants, who spent eight years working research on its efficacy and safety had
raised hundreds of millions of dollars
grip.
frantically on the vaccine and then
from a vast army of contributors and
been conducted by his Ann Arbor
One way to thwart the "polio sum-
achieved worldwide acclaim. Two
organized the famous March of
mentor, U-M Professor Thomas
mers," health officials believed, was
other Jewish doctors, both Polish
Dimes, distributing canisters between
Francis Jr.
to keep children out of crowds, and
immigrants,
had
their
movies at theaters.
even away from each other, as much
share
of
the
limelight
"It certainly didn't hurt
as possible. Swimming pools and the-
in the polio research
the cause to have a celebrity
aters were shut; birthday parties were
efforts: Dr. Albert
like FDR in the battle for a
canceled; children were ordered to
cure," says Oshinsky.
wash their hands often and get plenty Sabin, who fled
Poland with his family
"Without him, it probably
of rest. The schools stayed closed
would have taken many
until these epidemics subsided — and in the 1920s to escape
murderous pogroms,
more years to develop the
parents were relieved. It was the same
and
Dr.
Hilary
vaccine."
in many parts of the nation as polio
Koprowski, who
Roosevelt was stricken by
reached its peak in 1952 with 57,000
escaped the Nazis in
polio at age 39 in 1921 at
cases, including 3,000 deaths. In one
1939.
eastern Canada's
Iowa farm family alone, 11 of the 14
Sabin became
Campobello Island. His
children were afflicted.
famous for refining
Then, on April 12, 1955 — in
Hilary Koprowski developed a
Dr. Alfred Sabin, inventor of the family, fearing embarrass-
Salk's discovery with the
ment and telling him it was
Rackham Hall at the University of
live-virus oral polio vaccine in
oral vaccine, shared a bitter
development
of
an
oral
"to silly for you to have an
Michigan in Ann Arbor — came the
the late 1940s, years before Salk
rivalry with Dr: Jonas Salk.
polio vaccine, allowing
`infantile' disease,"
news that the nation, and, indeed,
and Sabin invented their vac-
children to take it hid-
informed
the press and oth-
the world wanted so desperately to
cines, but it was plagued by safe-
ers he had suffered a "severe
hear: An effective and safe vaccine for den in sweet syrup or
ty
sugar cubes as they
rheumatic attack from
polio had finally been produced.
lined up on what
excess bathing."
There would be no more panicked
became known as
Oshinsky points out: "It was meant
warnings of parents to their children,
"Sabin
Oral
Sundays."
Salk's
method
An
Uncommon
Disease
to
remove the enormous stigma
daily counts of polio victims in the
had required a series of three injec-
attached to a handicap like this. ... To
Oshinsky, 60, a New Yorker who
newspapers and, worst of all, the

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tTN

4/21

2005

64

tions followed later by a
booster shot. Koprowski
helped pave the way for the
successful research by Salk
and Sabin by experimenting
with polio vaccines on
chimpanzees and some chil-
dren.
To mark the 50th
anniversary of the Salk vac-
cine, this bygone, almost
forgotten era in American
history is chronicled in a
new 288-page book titled

earned his doctorate at Brandeis
University, turns the book into a
gripping scientific suspense story. He
puts a heavy accent on research meth-
ods, as no less than 25 physician
researchers raced to develop a vaccine
for the eradication of polio.
"I was able to get a lot of fresh
information from many previously
unused manuscript collections," he

