Thomas H. Weller

Live Poliovirus Vaccines: (Scientific Publication No. 44), by various authors (A Symposium). 713 pages, illustrated. Washington, D.C., Pan American Sanitary Bureau, 1959.

A five-day conference dealing with the status of live poliovirus vaccines was held under the auspices of the World Health Organization and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau in June, 1959. Although the conference was organized because of pressures on the sponsoring agencies to provide advice on the use of live polio vaccines, the objective of the meeting was not to make recommendations but to marshal pertinent data and to elicit differences of opinion in order to define areas requiring further investigation. The participation of the proponents of the three different sets of live virus strains, of individuals responsible for field trials that already have involved administration of oral vaccine to some millions of people, and of a distinguished group of virologists, epidemiologists, and public health administrators provides an interesting 692-page conference record that summarizes the knowledge of live poliovirus vaccines as of mid-year 1959.