“A scientist who is also a human being cannot rest while knowledge that could be used to reduce suffering remains on the shelf.” - Albert Sabin Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayAt a time when polio was sweeping across the world and causing devastation, scientists began searching for a vaccine to end the epidemic. Despite numerous failed attempts and religious opposition, the genetic engineering of the 1952 polio vaccine was a triumph, ending the tragic spread of polio around the world. In 1894, the first polio epidemic occurred. 132 cases of permanent paralysis and eighteen deaths were recorded, but at the time doctors did not believe that polio was contagious. Dr. Charles Caverly spoke of this, saying: "I have found only one case in which more than one member of a family had the disease, and since it usually occurred in families with more than one child and since no efforts were made to 'isolation, it is absolutely certain that it was not contagious.' The lack of medical knowledge and understanding on the part of doctors at that time contributed greatly to the rapid spread of the disease. Eleven years after the first epidemic, a Swedish doctor named Ivar Wickham made a breakthrough discovery about the contagious nature of polio. Published his two major research findings, the first being that polio was, in fact, contagious, and the second being that polio does not always occur in the most severe form. In 1908, two scientists named Karl Landsteiner, MD, and Erwin Popper, MD successfully isolated and identified polio. They made this discovery by transmitting polio to a monkey, proving that polio was a virus. Finally, in 1910, Dr. Simon Flexner's research sparked the idea of ​​a vaccine to combat polio. Polio continued to spread around the world, with between 25,000 and 50,000 new cases per year. In more extreme cases, polio caused paralysis and death, while in milder cases it manifested itself with flu-like symptoms. In 1916, a massive polio epidemic hit the United States with 27,000 cases and 6,000 deaths. A Los Angeles Times statement said: “Many inspectors… positioned themselves at train stations, ferries and boat landings along the Delaware River… to stop any children under 16 years of age attempting to enter Pennsylvania without health certificates. " Cities began taking extensive precautions to protect their citizens as the dangers of polio became more apparent. As infection and death rates continued to rise, the need for a vaccine also increased. There were many failures before it was discovered the correct engineering of the polio vaccine. The most significant failure occurred in 1955, when a field trial of the vaccine was conducted. The inactivated form of the virus was injected into 400,000 people, mostly children proved to be defective as 40,000 children who were injected contracted the disease. The account of one little girl who became afflicted after the field trial is as follows: “Five days later, she developed fever and stiff neck her left arm was paralyzed. Seven days later she was placed in an iron lung, and nine days later she was dead.” This costly mistake permanently paralyzed or prematurely ended the lives of many children in the United States. However, this mistake did not stop Salk's search for the vaccine. After years of research, it was designed.