In my field of study, architecture put emphasis on many hygiene-preservation strategies. One of the simplest would be the good air flow, cross ventilation, penetration of sunlight and avoidance of water stagnation (sanitary). It is of architects partial responsibility to ensure a building inhabitant comfort, or else, a building would be rendered hostile and risks abandonment. During my lifetime, a few epidemic had struck and made headlines around the world; but never once these disease had caused my school to close down (only haze did give me an official day off, thank you!) . To name a few; Japanese Encipilitis, Coxsackie, SARS and recently the avian flu. Yet still, today diseases are pretty much volatile. They evolve and strike without warning and human wages a war on enemy that goes deep inside of themselves. One of disease that I got carried away knowing them would be polio, an epidemic in the 1950s that did not eradicate human race whatsoever, but done a considerable damage to the person it inflict. Good news, polio today is classified as nearly eradicated disease, much like tuberculosis. The government had provided a compulsory vaccination scheme for all which covers pretty much known highly-contagious disease.
Polio generally puts a person motor function at risk. It’s a virus that’s attached to the spinal cord ‘literally’ eating the cords that’s responsible for the motor functions. Worst, Polio is a type of disease that is ‘kind’ enough to let its patient live. Mortality lays at one digit percentage paving way for polio patient which are rendered paralyzed to live until adulthood. Polio also goes by the name ‘infancy paralyses’ due to its affinity to inflict infant. Early civilization takes it lightly and thought it was club-foot disease; a birth deformation.
An infected kid doesn’t necessarily be an infant to contact this disease. They spread through oral fluid, like a boring Sunday afternoon when a person shared his ice cream with another person with overlap licks. After a few weeks, the person would develop the usual symptom when a body detects breach of different organism in body. Starting with mild fever.
Fever lasted on, and Polio would later shed its true face by weakening the motor function of lower limbs; feet and leg began to feel numb. At advance stages, muscle function of abdomen and chest were incapacitated resulting to patient having difficulties in breathing (since breathing works through contraction and expansion of a set of chest muscles). A lumbar puncture where fluid of the
spine would be sampled and taken to lab, upon confirmation, patient would be placed in ward.
spine would be sampled and taken to lab, upon confirmation, patient would be placed in ward. Loss control of hand, worst still, the muscle pain caused. Prolonged unused muscle resulted in degeneration, which is why most photographs had polio patient depicted with slightly off scale limbs which seems shrunken. Having legs farther apart or closely together due to muscle strain. The brain no longer signals it what to do. What is much devastating would be polio striking paralyzes its victim yet the sensory and cognitive nerve which runs parallel with motor spinal wasn’t inflicted by the virus. It seems the virus has got appetite for motor spine.
For cases of loss of lung muscle control, an industrial-like device was designed in the mid 1940s. With gauges, clunky and shaped like torpedo tubes; it’s the infamous ‘iron lung’. One of the scariest devices ever invented for human medical treatment. Patients would be put inside the machine with its head out in the normal environment. However the iron lung would put lower half of the limb in negative pressure situation. Allowing the chest cavity to expand and contract. This helped polio patient breath, only this time, ‘mechanically’.
Ego of a few men
‘There is no disease that has no cure, except for death’. As a Muslim, I’am on several occasion reminded of this saying. A word which should uplift the spirit of Muslims alike that God would allow anything to happen, yet still attains the ultimate and definite fate of it.Two men came and somehow heed this call. Two American men by the name Robert E. Salk (pic,left) and Albert Sabin hurdled, and funnily fuelling doubt over each other vaccine . When the race initially started, worried parents across America were donating money as generously towards the cause so-called ‘March of Dimes’ (Dimes referring to a value of American denomination, akin to ten cents) Today, a dime in the United States commemorates Franklin D. Roosevelt. The coin had his apparition in honor of his effort founding the National Institute of Infantile Paralysis; the foundation of later re-named March-of-Dimes itself.
Robert Salk has got two jobs, while searching for an effective vaccine; he occasionally made radio speeches on radio reporting his vaccine tests on monkey. His remarkable pace of research coupled with funding by March of Dimes put the expected widespread usage of his vaccine to about a year or two. By 1952, parents were very eager as their children grow up in somewhat ‘hostile’ environment. Kids remained indoors as the disease is known to be highly infectious. His rival, Albert Sabin cast doubt on Robert Salk vaccine saying that a hastily produced vaccine might not provide immunization against polio; but instead enraged the spread of polio in a much dangerous evolved strain.
In his calculation, a viable polio vaccine can be released earliest, in the next decade putting it some when in first half of 1960s. Well, American people at that time had enough of polio. Its been a tiring battle since 1930, and they cannot tolerate another 10 years of vaccine research.
It was believed that improvement of sanitation across America during the late 1920 had resulted in humans naturally not producing enough immunity against such virus anymore. Strangely, in common sense, a hygienic condition avoided disease, but in long term, a clean environment had signaled our body to stand down from any threats. Due to that, polio became an epidemic in 1930 as America faces its Great Depression. One of prominent polio victim is Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the movie, Pearl Harbor you might see him wheelchair bound, that’s because he has polio. He was paralyzed waist down.
Robert Salk did not sulk, he conducted first test on November 1953 on 100,000 children, and to add confidence of his test subjects, he injected himself and his children as well. Albert Sabin once again retaliated that his comrade in the Polio battle might be in a verge of making biggest mistake in medical history. Robert Salk version of vaccine was in fact killed polio virus cultivated within monkey kidney. His vaccine intended to be injected intravenously, thus, triggering body response to create natural immune against the virus. 
Albert Sabin has a different approach to polio vaccine. He did away with intravenous injection (good for children who fear needles). Instead his creation can be delivered orally (yes, you drink them! Clear liquid in small paper cups). His polio vaccine are live polio virus, but a weaker version (medical terminology; attenuated virus) which trigger the same bodily response as Robert Salk vaccine; production of natural immunity. It’s cheaper to manufacture, yet has stringent requirement for transport and storage as weaken live virus were prone to become ‘bad’ if anything is compromised. Albert Sabin took too much time and his quest to produce ‘ultimately safe’ virus. It was licensed in the United Stated in 1962. Exactly ten years after Robert Salk injected himself with his own version of vaccine. Overall its safer to use the injected ‘dead-virus’ version.
By 1954, Robert Salk openly tested his vaccine on 1 million children as mass test subjects. News announcement were made through the radio for test volunteer. Parents, amidst doubt thrown by Sabin, were eager to put their children in the first in-line to receive the injection. Yet, the effect is not immediate. All test subjects were monitored by National Institute of Health which created a special committee on live virus. Initially, some children developed allergies, some too an extent of being admitted into hospital.
In 1955, it was a happiest year for America and mankind as a whole. The first effective polio vaccine has been found. The report published shows test subjects developed 80-90% average immunity against all three type of polio (yes, polio has type A,B and C). Albert Sabin on the other hand did not rest on his laurel, his persuasion for his ‘Sabin-made’ vaccine carried on. Tests were still conducted while Salk vaccine is being widely adopted by medical institution. By 1962, seven years late, his vaccine is being licensed.
By 1986, The United States had declared Polio eradicated. Today, cases of polio had tremendously dropped to a few thousand worldwide. Malaysian receive their polio immunization through combination of three serial shots of injection (beginning 2nd month of birth) and oral administered for booster (if im not mistaken). Vaccination program in Malaysia includes protection against disease like (most notably) tetanus, TB, Hepatitis and Rubella. In a new wake of Malaysian teenagers getting sexually active, government had plans to administer anti-cervical cancer jabs for to all underage girls.
