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Articles on Jonas Salk

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In 1956, during the height of the polio epidemic in the U.S., health officials in Chicago offer polio shots at a public school. Bettmann via Getty Images

Polio vaccination rates in some areas of the US hover dangerously close to the threshold required for herd immunity – here’s why that matters

With poliovirus circulating in New York, health authorities worry that pockets of the county with low polio vaccination rates could give the virus a foothold.
Critical-care patients in the emergency polio ward at Haynes Memorial Hospital in Boston in August 1955. Associated Press photo

Fears of a polio resurgence in the US have health officials on high alert – a virologist explains the history of this dreaded disease

Health officials say the new case of polio in New York state and the presence of poliovirus in the municipal wastewater suggests that hundreds more could already be infected with the disease.
An emergency polio ward in Boston in 1955 equipped with iron lungs. These pressurized respirators acted as breathing muscles for polio victims, often children, who were paralyzed. www.apimages.com

The deadly polio epidemic and why it matters for coronavirus

Polio was nearly eradicated with the Salk vaccine in 1955. At the time, little was known about this mysterious disease that paralyzed and sometimes killed young children.
UCSF neuroscience grad student Sama Ahmed, whose three-minute talk on ‘how to know your species’ won first place at the campuswide contest, will compete for the Grad Slam championship in Oakland May 4. Susan Merrell/UCSF

Why more scientists are needed in the public square

The president of one of the country’s leading research university systems argues that the academic community has to make sure researchers and scientists engage with the general public.

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