De Kruif's Boast

Vaccine Trials and the Construction of a Virus

Bibliographic Data

ID15027280
AuthorsJohn M Eyler (University of Minnesota, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume80
Issue3
Pages409-438
Publication date2006-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the history of medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-5140 • E-ISSN: 1086-3176
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/bhm.2006.0092
PMID17147130
OpenAlexW1976726575
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited10

This article describes the sustained effort by American researchers between the mid-1930s and the mid-1950s to develop an effective influenza vaccine. From almost the beginning of this project, researchers succeeded in protecting laboratory animals from lethal influenza infection, and they believed that success with humans would follow quickly. Yet although they succeeded in producing a vaccine that proved effective in field trials in 1943 and 1945, that same vaccine failed to offer any protection in 1947. This vaccine failure forced researchers to reconsider the growing evidence of antigenic variation and challenged the model of the virus that had been taken for granted

Influenza vaccine · Virus · Immunology · Influenza Virus Research Studies · Medicine · Poxvirus research and outbreaks · Virology

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