Present Status of the Problem of Vaccination Against Poliomyelitis

Abstract

In the course of exploring the extent to which the basic laws of immunology apply to poliomyelitis a number of observations have been made. Perhaps the most important one made in the course of these immunologic investigations was that the poliomyelitis virus is a relatively potent antigen, and that the quantity of virus as determined by infectivity measurements necessary to produce an antigenic effect was much less than could have been anticipated a priori. It has been observed not only that levels of antibody induced by the nonliving form of the poliomyelitis virus can be manipulated by attention to details of dosage and interval between inoculation, but that the degree of persistence of measurable antibody can be similarly influenced.