The World Cured
Salk once said, “Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality” (About Jonas Salk). Jonas Salk went to college to get his medical degree, but never dreamed of becoming famous. After that, he got a job at a hospital where he then took an interest in diseases and on how they work. He was a great epidemiologist and later got invited to study these illnesses at the University of Michigan. This is where Salk’s dreams first became real. He was always told by his parents to apply himself to his studies and that’s just what he did (Jonas Salk). Dr. Jonas Salk created a breakthrough in medical knowledge shown through his accomplishments such as creating vaccines, building an institute,
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The famous Jonas Salk figured out how to cure several deadly terrifying diseases, saving thousands of lives. One disease, he is most recognized for curing is polio. The Polio disease was also commonly known as the infantile paralysis disease (Jonas Salk Biography). Polio is a sickness that can take effect in a period of 24 hours making you unable to breathe or even move. The most vulnerable people, susceptible of getting this terrifying disease were children, pregnant women, and the elderly (Becker). “The United States reported 57,628 polio cases. That was the worst United States epidemic on record” (Becker). Salk took on the challenge of trying to destroy this disease and with many years of hard work and determination he finally conquered it (Becker). “This burden of fear was lifted forever when it was announced that Dr. Jonas Salk had developed a vaccine against the disease” (Jonas Salk). In honor of Salk’s scientific breakthrough and relieving the world from this frightening disease the governor created a day dedicated to Jonas Salk known as Jonas Salk Day on June 4, 1962 (Becker). Polio was not the only illness Salk attempted to …show more content…
So overall, Salk made the world feel more secure and not always having to worry about if someone might may be the next victim of the illness or not. He is a great example showing that when talented skills are applied and goals are set, it will only make a person try harder and influence other individuals, possibly changing the world, for the present and future. This true scientist stuck to his abilities and really applied himself to his work, which ended up with him being one of the most recognized scientists of his
At first polio was a troubling prospect when it first reared its ugly head in the United States of America. In a noble effort to be rid of polio, America as a whole was to adopt stringent sanitation measures. Everywhere, especially the home was to be spotless and clean in order to try and prevent the contraction of polio. This coupled with the view that America as a western nation seemed impervious to such a lowly disease tried to assuage American fear of the disease. Despite the measures commonly adopted throughout the myriad of cities and towns, polio still managed to spread around the country and wreak havoc taking thousands of lives. An outbreak that ravaged America claimed nearly 27,000 lives in a terrible reckoning before it finally subsided. This and several other troubling outbreaks
Brazelton attended many schools throughout his life. He attended a prep school in Alexandria, Virginia (Episcopal High School), after that he attended New Jersey’s Princeton University, following the pre-medical curriculum. While he was in Princeton he enjoyed acting a in a few number of college theatre productions. Brazelton was then considering of accepting a role on Broadway. However his parents did not like the idea of him accepting the role in Broadway. His parents said if he’d wish for them to pay for medical school in the future he would have to focus on his pre-medical studies. With an offer like that from Brazelton took his parents advice, leaving behind Broadway and concentrate in pre-medical school. Brazelton received his A.B. from Princeton in 1940, then he continued to earn his M.D. from the College of Physicians and surgeons at New York City’s Columbia University. After, that he did his internship through Columbia University, at Roosevelt Hospital. Then he served the United States Naval Reserve for a year. By 1945, Brazelton began a medical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. His training as a pediatrician began in...
Najjar came in with a completely different mindset then the rest of the doctors. He grew up in a small town in Syria and did very poor in the private school classroom environment (Calahan 128). No one believed in him, and even his parents lost all hope in him achieving success. They decided to have him transfer into a public school. This opened up a new mindset for Dr. Najjar and lit a spark inside of him. At his new school, a specific teacher caught interest in him and praised him for his work which raised his confidence. Dr. Najjar easily could have taken this confidence and stopped putting forth the effort needed to continue succeeding, but instead, he stayed persistent, and at the end of the school year, he came home with straight A's on his report card. His parents didn’t think this was possible and accused him of cheating. His teachers backed him up and assured his parents that he worked hard to earn his good grades. As time went on, his success continued and Najjar eventually graduated at the top of his class in medical school. He then moved to the United States where he became an esteemed neurologist and epileptologist. No one believed in Dr. Najjar growing up, so he wanted to prove a point to everyone who doubted him and he made it clear he was never going to give up on
The death rate was on the decline and life expectancy rose during this period. New medical developments were made with the federal funding of medical research in which penicillin and streptomycin were developed. These advancements in medicine have cured many bacterial infections and severe illnesses. Later, in 1952, Jonas Salk introduced a polio vaccine. There was a vast migratory pattern among many Americans during this time period.
There is no doubt that these events have improved and advanced the science of medicine as a whole and that lives have been improved and saved through the availability of healthcare within the system that has been created. The introduction and availability of antibiotics alone has restored to good health countless individuals who in the century before would have certainly died from bacterial infection.
One of the other notable important advances was the “Conquest of Polio” this disease usually caused paralysis in the people who contracted the virus. Back then there...
Piddock, Charles. "Winning the War on Polio." Current Health 2 10 2004: 25-7. ProQuest. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near removal of wild polio virus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis, and other illnesses.
Peter Conrad’s book, The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders, examined several cases of human conditions, once viewed as normal, now considered as medical issues. Conrad defined this transition of human problems to disorders that are medically defined, studied, diagnosed and treated as “medicalization”. Specifically, Conrad discussed certain conditions, such as adult ADHD, as age related phenomena that have been medicalized. Throughout, Conrad demonstrated how these issues became medically defined because of the current research and financing structure of medicine in the United States. Those newly defined illnesses changed people’s perceptions and expectations of health and old age, thus dramatically altering society’s expectations of medicine and subsequent life quality. Conrad’s ethnography is a good example of the ethnomedical approach to medical anthropology that addressed several health conditions that are prominent in the United States. He culminated his book by arguing medicalization primarily serves as a form of social control, solving problems with individuals and not society. While the book clearly explained a wide range of negative causes and effects of medicalization, Conrad only acknowledged a few examples of successful resistance briefly in his last chapter. In order to empower its readers beyond education, the book should have examined these instances of anti-medicalization to find similarities and derive productive countermeasures for individuals to follow. Conrad thoroughly outlined the history, examples and influencing factors that promote medicalization, but failed to offer any combative solution to the resulting problems of medicalization.
...in the fields of both science and medicine, future epidemics of any disease can be handled better. When a lethal disease begins to rampage a population, research on similar epidemics can help the world contain, cure, and prevent the disease to protect the world and its population.
Polio: An American Story describes a struggle to find a vaccine on polio through several researchers’ lives, and over the course of many years. The second thesis is the struggle between Salk and Sabin, two bitter rivals who had their own vaccine that they believed would cure polio. The author David M. Oshinsky, is describing how difficult it was to find the cure to a horrifying disease, which lasted from the Great Depression until the 1960’s. Oshinsky then writes about how foundations formed as fundraisers, to support polio research. Lastly, the author demonstrates how researchers were forced to back track on multiple occasions, to learn more about polio.
Illness has been a major part of humankind’s lives almost since the beginning of time. Throughout history, illnesses caused fatal epidemics that caused deaths between young and old, and brought fear upon all for the absence of a cure. Having an illness throughout most of history was considered an inevitable death sentence, as the majority of causes of death (Offit). Vaccinations have been experimented in China and Turkey in the 15th century, with methods such as inhaling or rubbing grounded up smallpox scabs against open cuts (Clem). Then in 1700s, the first form of modern vaccination was invented by Edward Jenner with the cowpox virus acting against smallpox, giving immunity against it (Offit).
...forming bench research at Barry University and Weill Cornell Medical College in the Traveler’s Research Fellowship, I have been exposed to the side of medicine where scientists work every day to find cures for diseases and save lives. Experiencing different aspects of medicine has made me a more competent individual to thrive in this field and has deepened my interest and passion to pursue medicine as a career.I believe that those who fight with so little against so much truly need others to help them in their struggle. Being a physician is not only becoming a successful professional. I will work hard to bring about necessary changes to end social disparities, so that more groups in society receive the best healthcare. By making a difference in their lives, I will receive rewarding experiences that are worth all the hard work and sacrifice my chosen career requires.
...his day. These men have made an enormous amount of discovery to get medicine to where it is today.
For innumerable centuries, unrelenting strains of disease have ravaged society. From the polio epidemic in the twentieth century to the measles cases in the latter half of the century, such an adverse component of nature has taken the lives of many. In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox could foster immunity against smallpox; through injecting the cowpox into another person’s arm, he founded the revolutionary concept known as a vaccination. While many attribute the eradication of various diseases to vaccines, many United States citizens are progressively beginning to oppose them. Many deludedly thought that Measles had been completely terminated throughout the United States; however, many children have been patronized by