Friday, May 22, 2020

The METAPHORICAL VIRUSES, by Linda Pendleton



The Metaphorical Viruses, by Linda Pendleton

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”
~ Albert Einstein


Dr. Jonas Salk giving his son, Peter, the first polio vaccine



Dr. Jonas Salk, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, and a world-renowned scientist and medical researcher, and developer of the polio vaccine, touched millions of lives.  Today as we are facing another world pandemic, one cannot help but think about the past.  Some of us are old enough to remember the fear of the worldwide epidemic of poliomyelitis during the 1940s and 1950s, and many of us knew someone afflicted.  How well we remember the iron lungs, the braces, the crippled limbs, the hot summers when the virus obtained a foothold, the closed public swimming pools, the fear of houseflies and dirty hands, Sister Kenny and her physical therapy program—but most of all, we remember 1955 and Jonas Salk and his vaccine.

And how thankful we were, not only as children but also as parents who could then ensure protection for our children from this dreaded, acute, infectious disease, the virus particularly invasive of children.  In the early days, before the term polio was coined, it was known as infantile paralysis.  Salk’s research and perfection of the vaccine perhaps saved millions from the crippling and/or fatal effects of the virus. 

In 1960, Dr. Salk founded the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, and it was there he later researched for a vaccine for HIV and AIDS.  He said if he found a vaccine for HIV, he would test it on himself as he did the polio vaccine.  

In March of 1993, my husband, Don Pendleton, and I had the privilege of hearing seventy-eight-year-old Jonas Salk lecture at the Harvey Mudd College (Claremont Colleges).  Dr. Salk was a recipient of the Wright Prize, given to scientists and engineers who achieve excellence in interdisciplinary work or research.  The doctor spent several days on the Harvey Mudd campus, sharing his experiences and ideas with the students. The topic of his lecture was “AIDS:  The Metaphoric Disease of Our Time.”  After giving us some history on HIV, he told us that “the idea of a cure in the sense of eradication of the virus itself in an already infected individual is highly unlikely,” but went on to say that strategies can be used to “keep the virus-infected cells under control so that the symptom-free period can be prolonged, hopefully for the life of the individual.”

Considering the pandemic situation that mankind was facing at that time, those were hopeful words indeed.  But what I found most fascinating in his lecture was how he correlated the actions of the HIV retrovirus with human behavior and the world problems of our time resulting from our “political behavior.”  He said, “The patterns seen in HIV, are like patterns, in a way, that are seen in humans and human behavior and relationships. The humans, we know, invade, usurp, and destroy, and therefore, metaphorically, I imagine that they have a similar effect on the defense mechanisms.  The humans behave like retrovirus in a way; they produce cancer-like effects and autoimmune-like effects.  The autoimmune-like effects—war—war to protect one’s self, to attack another—that, in turn, self-destruct.  And so by thinking about the human condition and thinking in a way that’s homologous to a biological phenomenon, you begin to recognize that maybe it is useful to consider the use of biological metaphors—the epistemology biology, the epistemology of science, in understanding how nature works—toward an understanding of how the human side of nature works.”

True scientific theories all begin as inspiration.  Through the microscope, Jonas Salk studied the ecosystem of the cell and also retroviruses, which are dependent on a living cell for reproduction—and have the ability to impress their memory on the cell and forever change it.  But Jonas Salk peered beyond the finite into the infinite with a holistic view that sees not only the big picture but many of the infinitesimal forces behind it. 

What I discovered in listening to Jonas Salk’s talk, and greeting him and his wife, Françoise Gilot Salk, afterward, was a kind, warm man, who gave me insight into the common thread through which his genius flowed, and that was the holistic blending of the creative forces of science and artistic expression, touched with love and healing. 

Dr, Jonas Salk refused a patent for his work, stating that this vaccine belonged to the people and that to patent it would be like “patenting the Sun.” 

I wonder what Dr. Jonas Salk would be saying today about the latest pandemic and the patterns existing within the COVID19 virus.  In today’s strained society, and political upheaval, it appears to be a more volatile society than it was in the 1980s.  And we are faced with a novel virus that is extremely contagious and transmittable without symptoms, and that puts others at risk.  What I find somewhat lacking in today’s attitudes is self-responsibility and responsibility for others.  Our current political behavior is such that an absence of leadership and responsibility has enhanced the challenging issues of getting through the pandemic.  We do need a vaccine to get beyond this.  Back to normal?  No, it’s like a death—we may return to a new normal, in time. It will be up to us to build again that way of life that we hope to have.          

Dr. Jonas Salk’s son, Peter Salk, M.D., who decades ago was the first to receive the polio vaccine along with his whole family, is president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation in La Jolla, and a Professor and specialist in Infectious Diseases.  This is what he had to say in an interview on the Best of Allegheny Radio Show April 23, 2020, regarding COVID19.  

“We need a vaccine to make us really secure that we’ve got this under control.  We need treatment for people who do get infected.  But I can’t emphasize enough the importance at this moment in time of the social distancing.  That has allowed us to put a lid on things for the moment as long as we continue that, and only to back-off of that in a very careful and measured fashion as the caseload diminishes, as the hospitals move out of the risk of being overwhelmed, when we have the appropriate testing both in terms of who is currently infected, even if you’re not showing symptoms,  and who has already been infected and may have recovered, or not even known they were sick and have antibodies in their blood, having the ability to have enough people to trace contact if someone does come down with the illness, who they have been in contact with, get them quarantined and tested, and so on.  We really need to use all the tools at our disposal, and right now, this social distancing and the ability to develop tracking and testing, those are the key things at this point, until we have the security of a vaccine.”

Let’s hope that this novel coronavirus does not mutate and slow down the search for a vaccine. I agree with Dr. Peter Salk that we do need the security of a vaccine for COVID19.  The ongoing and sad high loss of life worldwide is very regrettable.  In the meantime, we can do our best to take self-responsibility and social distance, and wear our masks. Do others a favor and protect them from you, as they reciprocate.  That is the significance of community and healing.

~Linda Pendleton
May, 2020

©Copyright 2020 by Linda Pendleton