Sabin, Albert Bruce

▪ 1994

      Polish-born U.S. physician and microbiologist (b. Aug. 26, 1906, Bialystok, Poland—d. March 3, 1993, Washington, D.C.), was a towering figure in medical research and the developer in 1955 of the first oral vaccine for polio, which was administered to millions of children in Europe, Africa, and the Americas beginning in the late 1950s. His live, weakened (attenuated) vaccine, which was dispensed on a sugar cube or in liquid, was easier to administer and provided longer protection than the killed, injected vaccine developed by Jonas Salk a year earlier. Both vaccines, however, were credited with virtually eradicating the crippling and sometimes fatal effects of poliomyelitis, or infantile paralysis, a scourge that, at its peak in 1952, paralyzed 21,000 Americans and killed 3,100. Sabin immigrated to the U.S. in 1921 with his family, and two cousins taught him enough English to make it possible for him to enter high school. Ten years later he earned an M.D. degree from New York University. He served two years as house physician at Bellevue Hospital in New York City before attending the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in London. After returning to New York City in 1935, he joined the staff of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, where he was the first to demonstrate the growth of poliovirus in human nervous tissue outside the body. After becoming (1939) associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati (Ohio) College of Medicine, he served as chief of the college's division of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital Research Foundation (1939-43). During World War II he interrupted his polio research to work with the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Sabin isolated the virus that caused sandfly fever, which was epidemic among U.S. troops in Africa, and he later developed vaccines against dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis. After the war he returned to the University of Cincinnati and served as professor of research pediatrics (1946-60) and distinguished service professor (1960-71) before becoming professor emeritus in 1971. Sabin was also associated with the University of South Carolina at Charleston, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Though he was paralyzed (1983) with polyneuritis, an inflammation of the nerve cells, he made almost a full recovery and continued working on a measles vaccine before retiring in 1988. Sabin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1951 and was the recipient of the U.S. Medals of Science (1970), Freedom (1986), and Liberty (1986).

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▪ American physician and microbiologist

born Aug. 26, 1906, Białystok, Poland, Russian Empire

died March 3, 1993, Washington, D.C., U.S.

 Polish American physician and microbiologist best known for developing the oral polio vaccine (polio vaccine). He was also known for his research in the fields of human viral (virus) diseases, toxoplasmosis, and cancer.

      Sabin immigrated with his parents to the United States in 1921 and became an American citizen nine years later. He received an M.D. degree from New York University in 1931, where he began research on human poliomyelitis. After serving for two years as a house physician at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, he attended the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in London. In 1935 he joined the staff of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City, where he was the first researcher to demonstrate the growth of poliovirus in human nervous tissue outside the body.

      In 1939 Sabin became associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio and chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital Research Foundation of the college. He later became professor of research pediatrics. While at the college, he disproved the prevailing theory that the poliovirus enters the body through the nose and respiratory system; he subsequently demonstrated that human poliomyelitis is primarily an infection of the digestive tract.

      Sabin postulated that live, weakened (attenuated) virus, administered orally, would provide immunity over a longer period of time than killed, injected virus. By 1957 he had isolated strains of each of the three types of poliovirus that were not strong enough to produce the disease itself but were capable of stimulating the production of antibodies. He then proceeded to conduct preliminary experiments in the oral administration of these attenuated strains. Cooperative studies were conducted with scientists from Mexico, The Netherlands, and the Soviet Union, and finally, in extensive field trials on children, the effectiveness of the new vaccine was conclusively demonstrated. The Sabin oral polio vaccine was approved for use in the United States in 1960 and became the main defense against polio throughout the world.

      Sabin also isolated the B virus, conducted research that led to the development of vaccines for sandfly fever and dengue, studied how immunity to viruses is developed, investigated viruses that affect the nervous system, and studied the role of viruses in cancer.

      Sabin became professor emeritus at Cincinnati in 1971, and from 1974 to 1982 he was a research professor at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

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