Poliomyelitis is the name of the disease caused by the poliovirus, and it mostly affects children under the age of 5, causing paralysis in a small percent of cases. The disease had been around since the 1800s at low levels, but became an epidemic in multiple countries between the 1910s-1960s. Because polio was killing and sickening children by the tens of thousands at its peak, scientists began an intense effort to develop a vaccine. Jonas Salk was credited with finally developing the first effective vaccine in 1953. However, hundreds of scientists were involved in the scientific work that led to … Continue reading Laboratory methods behind the polio vaccine discovery