Microbiology and Immunology

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S LAYER•seeSHEATHED BACTERIA

SSabin, Albert ABIN, ALBERT(1906-1993)

Russian American virologist

Albert Sabin developed an oral vaccinefor polio that led to the

once-dreaded disease’s virtual extinction in the Western

Hemisphere. Sabin’s long and distinguished research career

included many major contributions to virology, including

work that led to the development of attenuated live-virus vac-

cines. During World War II, he developed effective vaccines

against dengue feverand Japanese B encephalitis. The devel-

opment of a live polio vaccine, however, was Sabin’s crown-

ing achievement.

Although Sabin’s polio vaccine was not the first, it

eventually proved to be the most effective and became the pre-

dominant mode of protection against polio throughout the

Western world. In South America, “Sabin Sundays” were held

twice a year to eradicate the disease. The race to produce the

first effective vaccine against polio was marked by intense and

often acrimonious competition between scientists and their

supporters; in addition to the primary goal of saving children,

fame and fortune were at stake. Sabin, however, allowed his

vaccine to be used free of charge by any reputable organiza-

tions as long as they met his strict standards in developing the

appropriate strains.

Albert Bruce Sabin was born in Bialystok, Russia (now

Poland), on August 26, 1906. His parents, Jacob and Tillie

Sabin, immigrated to the United States in 1921 to escape the

extreme poverty suffered under the czarist regime. They set-

tled in Paterson, New Jersey, and Sabin’s father became

involved in the silk and textile business. After Albert Sabin

graduated from Paterson High School in 1923, one of his

uncles offered to finance his college education if Sabin would

agree to study dentistry. Later, during his dental education,

Sabin read the Microbe Huntersby Paul deKruif and was

drawn to the science of virology, as well as to the romantic and

heroic vision of conquering epidemic diseases.

After two years in the New York University (NYU) den-

tal school, Sabin switched to medicine and promptly lost his

uncle’s financial support. He paid for school by working at

odd jobs, primarily as a lab technician and through scholar-

ships. He received his B.S. degree in 1928 and enrolled in

NYU’s College of Medicine. In medical school, Sabin showed

early promise as a researcher by developing a rapid and accu-

rate system for typing (identifying) Pneumococci,or the pneu-

monia viruses. After receiving his M.D. degree in 1931, he

went on to complete his residency at Bellevue Hospital in New

York City, where he gained training in pathology, surgery, and

internal medicine. In 1932, during his internship, Sabin iso-

lated the B virus from a colleague who had died after being

bitten by a monkey. Within two years, Sabin showed that the

B virus’s natural habitat is the monkey and that it is related to

the human HerpesSimplex virus. In 1934, Sabin completed

his internship and then conducted research at the Lister

Institute of Preventive Medicine in London.

In 1935, Sabin returned to the United States and

accepted a fellowship at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical

Research. There, he resumed in earnest his research of

poliomyelitis(or polio), a paralytic disease that had reached

epidemic proportions in the United States at the time of

Sabin’s graduation from medical school. By the early 1950s,

polio afflicted 13,500 out of every 100 million Americans. In

1950 alone, more than 33,000 people contracted polio. The

majority of them were children.

Ironically, polio was once an endemic disease (or one

usually confined to a community, group, or region) propa-

gated by poor sanitation. As a result, most children who lived

in households without indoor plumbing were exposed early

to the virus; the vast majority of them did not develop symp-

toms and eventually became immune to later exposures.

After the public healthmovement at the turn of the century

began to improve sanitation and more and more families had

indoor toilets, children were not exposed at an early age to

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