World Library  
Flag as Inappropriate
Email this Article

Salk polio vaccine

Article Id: WHEBN0021862318
Reproduction Date:

Title: Salk polio vaccine  
Author: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Language: English
Subject: Cell culture, Vaccine controversies, AIDSVAX
Publisher: World Heritage Encyclopedia

Salk polio vaccine

Two polio vaccines are used throughout the world to combat poliomyelitis (or polio). The first was developed by Jonas Salk and first tested in 1952. Announced to the world by Dr Thomas Francis Junior on April 12 1955,[1] it consists of an injected dose of inactivated (dead) poliovirus. An oral vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin using attenuated poliovirus. Human trials of Sabin's vaccine began in 1957 and it was licensed in 1962.[2] Because there is no long term carrier state for poliovirus in immunocompetent individuals, polioviruses have no non-primate reservoir in nature, and survival of the virus in the environment for an extended period of time appears to be remote. Therefore, interruption of person to person transmission of the virus by vaccination is the critical step in global polio eradication.[3] The two vaccines have eradicated polio from most countries in the world,[4][5] and reduced the worldwide incidence from an estimated 350,000 cases in 1988 to just 223 cases in 2012.[6][7]







The development of two polio vaccines led to the first modern mass inoculations. The last cases of paralytic poliomyelitis caused by endemic transmission of wild virus in the United States occurred in 1979, with an outbreak among the Amish in several Midwest states.[17] A global effort to eradicate polio, led by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and The Rotary Foundation, began in 1988 and has relied largely on the oral polio vaccine developed by Albert Sabin.[18] The disease was entirely eradicated in the Americas by 1994.[19] Polio was officially eradicated in 36 Western Pacific countries, including China and Australia in 2000.[20][21] Europe was declared polio-free in 2002.[22] Since January 2011, there were no reported cases of the disease in India, and hence in February 2012, the country was taken off the WHO list of polio endemic countries. It is reported that if there are no cases of polio in the country for two more years, it will be declared as a polio-free country.[23][24] As of 2008, polio remains endemic in only three countries: Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.[25][26] Although poliovirus transmission has been interrupted in much of the world, transmission of wild poliovirus does continue and creates an ongoing risk for the importation of wild poliovirus into previously polio-free regions. If importations of poliovirus occurs, outbreaks of poliomyelitis may develop, especially in areas with low vaccination coverage and poor sanitation. As a result, high levels of vaccination coverage must be maintained.[19]

Inactivated vaccine

The first effective polio vaccine was developed in 1952 by Jonas Salk at the University of Pittsburgh, but it would require years of testing. To encourage patience, Salk went on CBS radio to report a successful test on a small group of adults and children on March 26, 1953; two days later the results were published in JAMA.[27]


Beginning February 23, 1954, the vaccine was tested at Arsenal Elementary School and the Watson Home for Children in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[28] Salk's vaccine was then used in a test called the Francis Field Trial, led by Thomas Francis; the largest medical experiment in history. The test began with some 4,000 children at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia,[29] and would eventually involve 1.8 million children, in 44 states from Maine to California.[30] By the conclusion of the study, roughly 440,000 received one or more injections of the vaccine, about 210,000 children received a placebo, consisting of harmless culture media, and 1.2 million children received no vaccination and served as a control group, who would then be observed to see if any contracted polio.[14] The results of the field trial were announced April 12, 1955 (the tenth anniversary of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose paralysis was generally believed to have been caused by polio). The Salk vaccine had been 60–70% effective against PV1 (poliovirus type 1), over 90% effective against PV2 and PV3, and 94% effective against the development of bulbar polio.[31] Soon after Salk's vaccine was licensed in 1955 children's vaccination campaigns were launched. In the U.S, following a mass immunization campaign promoted by the March of Dimes, the annual number of polio cases fell from 35,000 in 1953 to 5,600 by 1957.[32] By 1961 only 161 cases were recorded in the United States.[33]

An enhanced-potency IPV was licensed in the United States in November 1987, and is currently the vaccine of choice in the United States.[17] The first dose of polio vaccine is given shortly after birth, usually between 1–2 months of age, a second dose is given at 4 months of age.[17] The timing of the third dose depends on the vaccine formulation but should be given between 6–18 months of age.[34] A booster vaccination is given at 4 to 6 years of age, for a total of four doses at or before school entry.[35] In some countries, a fifth vaccination is given during adolescence.[34] Routine vaccination of adults (18 years of age and older) in developed countries is neither necessary nor recommended because most adults are already immune and have a very small risk of exposure to wild poliovirus in their home countries.[17]


Oral vaccine

Oral polio vaccine (OPV) is a live-attenuated vaccine, produced by the passage of the virus through non-human cells at a sub-physiological temperature, which produces spontaneous mutations in the viral genome.[37] Oral polio vaccines were developed by several groups, one of which was led by Albert Sabin. Other groups, led by Hilary Koprowski and H.R. Cox, developed their own attenuated vaccine strains. In 1958, the National Institutes of Health created a special committee on live polio vaccines. The various vaccines were carefully evaluated for their ability to induce immunity to polio, while retaining a low incidence of neuropathogenicity in monkeys. Large-scale clinical trials performed in the Soviet Union in late 1950s — early 1960s by Mikhail Chumakov and his colleagues demonstrated safety and high efficacy of the vaccine.[38][39] Based on these results, the Sabin strains were chosen for worldwide distribution.[14]

There are 57 nucleotide substitutions which distinguish the attenuated Sabin 1 strain from its virulent parent (the Mahoney serotype), two nucleotide substitutions attenuate the Sabin 2 strain, and 10 substitutions are involved in attenuating the Sabin 3 strain.[12] The primary attenuating factor common to all three Sabin vaccines is a mutation located in the virus's internal ribosome entry site (IRES)[40] which alters stem-loop structures, and reduces the ability of poliovirus to translate its RNA template within the host cell.[41] The attenuated poliovirus in the Sabin vaccine replicates very efficiently in the gut, the primary site of infection and replication, but is unable to replicate efficiently within nervous system tissue. OPV also proved to be superior in administration, eliminating the need for sterile syringes and making the vaccine more suitable for mass vaccination campaigns. OPV also provided longer lasting immunity than the Salk vaccine.


OPV is usually provided in vials containing 10-20 doses of vaccine. A single dose of oral polio vaccine (usually two drops) contains 1,000,000 infectious units of Sabin 1 (effective against PV1), 100,000 infectious units of the Sabin 2 strain, and 600,000 infectious units of Sabin 3. The vaccine contains small traces of antibioticsneomycin and streptomycin—but does not contain preservatives.[43] One dose of OPV produces immunity to all three poliovirus serotypes in approximately 50% of recipients.[17] Three doses of live-attenuated OPV produce protective antibody to all three poliovirus types in more than 95% of recipients. OPV produces excellent immunity in the intestine, the primary site of wild poliovirus entry, which helps prevent infection with wild virus in areas where the virus is endemic.[35] The live virus used in the vaccine is shed in the stool and can be spread to others within a community. IPV produces less gastrointestinal immunity than does OPV, and primarily acts by preventing the virus from entering the nervous system. In regions without wild poliovirus, inactivated polio vaccine is the vaccine of choice.[35] In regions with higher incidence of polio, and thus a different relative risk between efficacy and reversion of the vaccine to a virulent form, live vaccine is still used. The live virus also has stringent requirements for transport and storage, which are a problem in some hot or remote areas. As with other live-virus vaccines, immunity initiated by OPV is probably lifelong.[36]

Iatrogenic (vaccine-induced) polio

A major concern about the oral polio vaccine (OPV) is its known ability to revert to a form that can achieve neurological infection and cause paralysis.[44] Clinical disease, including paralysis, caused by vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is indistinguishable from that caused by wild polioviruses.[45] This is believed to be a rare event, but outbreaks of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) have been reported, and tend to occur in areas of low coverage by OPV, presumably because the OPV is itself protective against the related outbreak strain.[46][47]

As the incidence of wild polio diminishes, nations transition from use of the oral vaccine back to the injected vaccine because the direct risk of iatrogenic polio (VAPP) due to OPV outweighs the indirect benefit of immunization via subclinical transmission of OPV. When IPV is used, reversion is not possible but there remains a small risk of clinical infection upon exposure to reverted OPV or wild polio virus. Following the widespread use of polio vaccines in the mid-1950s, the incidence of poliomyelitis declined rapidly in many industrialized countries. The use of OPV was discontinued in the United States in 2000 and in 2004 in the UK, but it continues to be used around the globe.[17][34] A nine-month-old boy from Navi Mumbai tested positive for Vaccine- Derived Poliovirus (VDPV) type 2 making it fourth such case recorded in India in 2013.[48]

The rate of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) varies by region but is generally about 1 case per 750,000 vaccine recipients.[49] VAPP is more likely to occur in adults than in children. In immunodeficient children, the risk of VAPP is almost 7,000 times higher, particularly for persons with B-lymphocyte disorders (e.g., agammaglobulinemia and hypogammaglobulinemia), which reduce the synthesis of protective antibodies.[45] The World Health Organization considers the benefits of vaccination to far outweigh the risk of vaccine derived polio. Outbreaks of vaccine derived polio have been stopped by multiple rounds of high-quality vaccination, in order to immunize the entire population.[50]

Outbreaks of VAPP occurred independently in Belarus (1965–66), Canada (1966–68), Egypt (1983–1993), Hispaniola (2000–2001), Philippines (2001), Madagascar (2001–2002),[51] and in Haiti (2002), where political strife and poverty have interfered with vaccination efforts.[52] In 2006 an outbreak of vaccine-derived poliovirus occurred in China.[53] Cases have been reported from Cambodia (2005–2006), Myanmar (2006–2007), Iran (1995, 2005–2007), Syria, Kuwait and Egypt.[54] Since 2005, The World Health Organization has been tracking vaccine-caused polio in northern Nigeria caused by a mutation in live oral polio vaccines.[55]

Contamination concerns

In 1960, it was determined that the rhesus monkey kidney cells used to prepare the poliovirus vaccines were infected with the SV40 virus (Simian Virus-40).[56] SV40 was also discovered in 1960 and is a naturally occurring virus that infects monkeys. In 1961, SV40 was found to cause tumors in rodents.[57] More recently, the virus was found in certain forms of cancer in humans, for instance brain and bone tumors, pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma, and some types of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.[58][59] However, it has not been determined that SV40 causes these cancers.[60]

SV40 was found to be present in stocks of the injected form of the polio vaccine (IPV) in use between 1955 to 1963.[56] It is not found in the OPV form.[56] Over 98 million Americans received one or more doses of polio vaccine between 1955 to 1963 when a proportion of vaccine was contaminated with SV40; it has been estimated that 10–30 million Americans may have received a dose of vaccine contaminated with SV40.[56] Later analysis suggested that vaccines produced by the former Soviet bloc countries until 1980, and used in the USSR, China, Japan, and several African countries, may have been contaminated; meaning hundreds of millions more may have been exposed to SV40.[61]

In 1998, the National Cancer Institute undertook a large study, using cancer case information from the Institutes SEER database. The published findings from the study revealed that there was no increased incidence of cancer in persons who may have received vaccine containing SV40.[62] Another large study in Sweden examined cancer rates of 700,000 individuals who had received potentially contaminated polio vaccine as late as 1957; the study again revealed no increased cancer incidence between persons who received polio vaccines containing SV40 and those who did not.[63] The question of whether SV40 causes cancer in humans remains controversial however, and the development of improved assays for detection of SV40 in human tissues will be needed to resolve the controversy.[60]

During the race to develop an oral polio vaccine several large scale human trials were undertaken. By 1958, the National Institutes of Health had determined that OPV produced using the Sabin strains were the safest.[14] Between 1957 and 1960, however, Hilary Koprowski continued to administer his vaccine around the world. In Africa, the vaccines were administered to roughly one million people in the Belgian territories, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.[64][65] The results of these human trials have been controversial,[66] and accusations in the 1990s arose that the vaccine had created the conditions necessary for transmission of SIV from chimpanzees to humans, causing HIV/AIDS. These hypotheses have, however, been refuted in some studies.[64] By 2004, cases of poliomyelitis in Africa had been reduced to just a small number of isolated regions in the western portion of the continent, with sporadic cases elsewhere. However, recent opposition to vaccination campaigns has evolved,[67][68] often relating to fears that the vaccine might induce sterility.[69] The disease has since resurged in Nigeria and in several other African nations, which epidemiologists believe is due to refusals by certain local populations to allow their children to receive the polio vaccine.[70]


External links

  • College of Physicians of Philadelphia
  • Center for Global Development
  • — 'People and Discoveries: Salk Produces Polio Vaccine 1952', PBS
  • Conquering Polio, Smithsonian Magazine, April 2005
  • The Global Effort To Eradicate Polio, Dream 2047 Magazine, April 2004

