Salk vaccine

Vaccine against poliomyelitis named for Dr. Jonas Salk who developed and introduced it in 1955. It was the first type of polio vaccine to become available. It was made by cultivating three strains of the virus separately in monkey tissue. The virus was separated from the tissue, stored for a week, and killed with formaldehyde. This killed-virus vaccine was given by injection and required 4 "shots." The oral form of the vaccine, subsequently developed by Dr. Albert Sabin, is in standard use today since it is easier to administer and is more effective than the Salk vaccine. The Salk vaccine is now exclusively of historic interest. The American physician and virologist Jonas Salk (1914–1995) did research on the influenza virus at the University of Michigan and on poliovirus at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1963 he became the first director of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at the University of California, San Diego.

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Salk vaccine 'sȯ(l)k- n a polio vaccine consisting of the three serotypes of poliovirus grown on embryonated eggs and inactivated by treatment with formaldehyde compare sabin vaccine

Salk Jonas Edward (1914-1995)

American immunologist. In 1942 while on a fellowship in epidemiology, Salk began studies of the influenza virus with the purpose of producing vaccines in commercial quantities. In 1947 he became the director of the virus research laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, and two years later he changed his interest to developing a serum against poliomyelitis. A problem was presented by the fact that poliomyelitis is caused by three strains of virus and a single effective vaccine was needed that could neutralize all of the strains. In 1953 he announced the successful development of a vaccine prepared from virus inactivated by treatment with formaldehyde. In the next two years mass inoculation of school children with the Salk vaccine was undertaken. 1953 was also the year in which he published the results of experimental inoculations of 20,000 people with a flu vaccine which had produced immunity for as long as two years. That vaccine also went into wide use.

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a vaccine against poliomyelitis, formed by treating the virus with formalin, which prevents it from causing disease but does not impair its ability to stimulate antibody production. It is administered by injection.

J. E. Salk (1914-95), US bacteriologist

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(sawk) [Jonas Edward Salk, American physician and virologist, 1914–1995] see poliovirus vaccine inactivated, under vaccine.