Real-Life Communication
Polio is a deadly disease. But could the vaccine used to fight it
in the '50s and '60s have been just as harmful to people? It's an interesting
question that researchers and biostatisticians around the world have been
checking into.
You are a biostatistician. You will be conducting an
experiment to verify the safety of polio vaccines. First, you need to read
all the literature. You must talk with physicians and researchers so that
you can design the best possible experiment.
"Communication skills
are very important," says Sarah Fowler, a biostatistician. "It's a matter
of working with other researchers, and being able to explain your findings
to physicians and sometimes to the public."
This is what the World
Health Organization says about polio:
The early polio vaccines
of the 1950s and early 1960s were grown on monkey kidneys. In some cases,
they were contaminated with the monkey virus called simian virus 40 (or SV40
for short). By 1962, as many as 98 million people may have been given the
polio vaccine. Around 10 to 30 million may have received the vaccine contaminated
with live SV40.
Any contamination of a vaccine is undesirable. But
how important is this particular contaminant for humans?
The full answer
is not yet known. Some scientists are worried that the virus may be associated
with certain cancers, particularly a tumour of the lung called mesothelioma.
The
incidence of this tumour has increased over the last three decades. But it
is too early to say that SV40 is in any way linked to the rise. Up to now,
the rise has been attributed to a higher exposure of the population to asbestos.
Since
the discovery of the contamination of the polio vaccine with SV40 in 1962,
all viral vaccines (not just the polio vaccine) have been screened for viruses.
The manufacturing of the vaccine now includes processes that eliminate such
viruses. The risk of acquiring SV40 or other similar virus particles from
vaccines is zero.
(Excerpted with permission from the World Health
Organization website)
As you read the article, you jotted
down some questions. This is what you wrote:
- What was the problem with polio vaccines designed in the '50s and '60s?
- What year marked the beginning of screening vaccines for viruses?
- What effect does SV40 have on humans?