Splendid Solution, Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio

[Gary]

My reading of Splendid Solution (Jeffrey Kluger) was actually spurred by another book, Vaccine (Arthur Allen). Loved Vaccine, it is really two separate books. First, a fairly broad history of how vaccines came into being and the success they enjoyed, and the second (and far more interesting) part, the development of public policy on how and when to use them. Found the whole subject fascinating. Splendid Solution is a somewhat older book (2004) and focused on the work of Jonas Salk covering roughly 1950 through 1956. I’m of that age (ahem…old) that I do have fleeting memories of being herded into mass vaccination programs and being told how this was good for me. What I don’t remember is the controversy that surrounded such a program. I can imagine my parents’ confusion over the conflicting stories and the dread every parent must face when deciding to expose their child to a substance that could save them from an awful disease, yet risk having them come down with that very disease as a result of the vaccine. The book provides a good overview of the methods employed in developing a vaccine, the testing necessary and the decisions that public officials went through to get it done. The book does a great job in exploring the science and describing the politics that go along with it. The author was diligent in obtaining interviews with many of the people that shaped the process and the details of how meetings went, the personalities encountered and the reactions of the public, are well written. I’d highly recommend both books to anyone who wants a better understanding of how this part of the medical world developed.


Gary

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Timely post, with the recent news that experts have concluded there is no link between autism and vaccination.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/12/autism.vaccines/index.html?iref=newssearch
(I realize a large % of people still dispute this, but the fact is, science has yet to show a link. -no I don't believe the conspiracy theories that someone is hiding something)
Vaccinations do result in some disease, even occasional death, we know that - but when looked at from a community perspective, they prevent much worse than they ever cause. (Accepting that if you are on the receiving end of an adverse event can be very very difficult.)
I had figured that when enough parents stopped vaccinating their kids, we might see some outbreaks of disease...so far I have heard of none....anyone? Or maybe not enough have done so yet.

 

[Skip Miller]

When I was a kid, I was shipped off to summer camp to get me out of the "city" (read: suburb) to get me away from polio. I also had a good friend who had polio. He was lucky, he wasn't an iron lung patient, but he had very little use of his right arm. He could fake it pretty well: To shake hands, he was quite good at moving his shoulder to swing his arm and hand out to meet your hand, and the muscles in his hand were fine. But if you were a nasty little kid and moved your hand sideways a few inches, his hand would flop back to his side. Not that I would ever do that, mind you....

-Skip

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Dave- probably not enough have stopped vaccinating yet. It is hard for a dieease to spread when there are really very few viable hosts for it to live in. The vaccination removes a person from the pool of viable hosts.

I've heard that Macs and Linux computers are virus-free or resistant- probably the same reason- relatively few hosts so the virus writer don't target them, and chances are greater that any virus written is going to land on a windoze machine. To the MAC /Linux people reading this- this isn't intended as a cheap shot. My theory will be tested as Macs increase in popularity.