Dedication to a lifelong mission: Gu Fangzhou and the Chinese road to polio elimination.

Authors

Jun Wu, Yuan Zhao, Yi-Fan Liu

Published in

Chinese medical sciences journal = Chung-kuo i hsueh k'o hsueh tsa chih. Volume 41. Issue 2. Pages 84-87. Epub Sep 01, 2026.

Abstract

This paper reviews Professor Gu Fangzhou's contributions to polio control and elimination in China. Following the 1955 polio outbreak, he advocated for the live oral polio vaccine (OPV) route tailored to national conditions. To validate vaccine safety, he initiated human trials by testing the vaccine on himself and his infant son. He led the construction of the domestic OPV production base and pioneered the sugar-coated pill formulation to overcome cold chain constraints, ultimately facilitating the nationwide elimination of indigenous wild polioviruses by 1994. Furthermore, he established China's OPV production and quality control standards and trained numerous public health professionals.

PMID:
42875149
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 15 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.