Question 16

Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against Polio.

Dr. Jonas Salk is renowned for creating the first effective vaccine for polio, a disease that had caused widespread paralysis and death before the vaccine was introduced in the 1950s.

A) Polio

This option is correct as Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine, which was first administered in 1955. The vaccine significantly reduced the incidence of polio, a crippling disease that affected thousands of children and adults in the United States and around the world.

B) Measles

This option is incorrect because the measles vaccine was developed by other scientists, notably John Enders, in the early 1960s. While measles is a serious viral disease, it is not related to the vaccine Salk created.

C) Tuberculosis

This option is also incorrect. The vaccine for tuberculosis, known as the BCG vaccine, was developed in the 1920s by Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin, well before Salk's work on the polio vaccine.

D) Malaria

This option is incorrect as well. While malaria is a significant global health issue, a vaccine for malaria was not developed during Salk's time. Research on malaria vaccines has continued for decades, but it was not Salk's area of focus.

Conclusion

The correct answer is A) Polio, as Dr. Jonas Salk's contributions were pivotal in the fight against polio, leading to a dramatic decrease in cases. Other options, while associated with serious diseases, do not pertain to Salk's work and thus fail to address the specific question regarding his vaccine development.