1950's Medicine and Health | Enders, Dr. John Franklin 1897-1985

DEAN OF THE AMERICAN-VIRUS HUNTERS"; DEVELOPED PROCEDURE FOR MASS PRODUCTION OF POLIO VIRUS; DEVELOPED VACCINE AGAINST MEASLES

Delivery of Polio Vaccine.

Dr. John Franklin Enders made important contributions in the 1950s to the fight against several infectious diseases, most notably polio. The development of the Salk vaccine in the first half of the decade was a major step in controlling the disease, but even this first major victory was only half-won. The problem of immunizing American children on a wide scale still remained. Large quantities of the polio virus were necessary to make the vaccine, which injected dead viruses into the body in order to stimulate the body's immune system, (See the section on polio in this chapter.)

Nobel Prize.

At this time Enders was a professor of microbiology at Harvard Medical School and a director of research at the Children's Medical Center in Boston. His own research...