First Organ Transplant and The Invention of the Polio Vaccine
by admin - October 21st, 2013
The 1950’s are a time period very well known because of the numerous historical events that took place. Advancements during the 50’s provoked an evolution in medical care. DNA was officially discovered and cigarettes were found to cause cancer. The first organ transplant was successfully performed in 1950 and the invention of the polio vaccine cured the polio epidemic of 1952. These medical advancements changed the way medicine was used to treat and cure patients from diseases that were not easily cured in the past.
History was made on June 17, 1950 when the first organ transplant was successfully performed. A woman named Ruth Tucker suffered from polycystic kidney disease, a disease in which cysts form on kidneys, often causing kidney failure. With only 10% of one kidney functioning, Tucker waited five weeks in the hospital while she waited to receive news of a suitable donor. On the morning of June 17, 1950, a kidney became available from a woman who had died from cirrhosis of the liver. Tucker received her life saving surgery at Little Company of Mary Hospital, without the medical advances that we have today such as anti-infection drugs and tissue typing.
In 1952, the United States experienced a polio epidemic that became the worst outbreak in the nation’s history. Out of 58,000 cases, 3,145 died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis. Dr. Jonas Salk created the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), first tested in 1954. This vaccine was an injected dose of killed poliovirus that was used to prevent polio. The field tests done to see if the IPV vaccination was successful became known as the largest medical experiment in history. In 1957, after the vaccine was licensed, the number of cases of polio had dropped drastically from 58,000 cases to 5,600 cases.
The first organ transplant and the invention of the polio vaccine helped the medical world advance in their patient care and treatment. Today, not only do we perform thousands of life saving organ transplants, but we also do not have to worry about the threat of developing the debilitating disease of polio. The 1950’s proved to be a time period were medical advancements showed their strengths and made history in the medical world.
— Kayla P.
I find it interesting to think about how greatly the medical world advanced during the 1950s, because it is often a time period associated with cultural changes (such as the expansion of highways, the invention of drive-in restaurants and the evolution of television) rather than with medical changes. This post demonstrates how much the medicine world has evolved since the 1950s. Today, there are many more life saving vaccines than there were in the fifties. And it is strange to think, that without the invention of the polio vaccine more than 60 years ago, many of us would be exposed to a greater quantity of dangerous diseases.