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

Wu Jun; Zhao Yuan; Liu Yi-Fan

doi:10.1016/j.cmsj.2026.08.003

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

Chinese Medical Sciences Journal Vol. 41, Issue 2, Pages: 84-87(2026)

Review Article | Updated：2026-10-16

- Dedication to a lifelong mission: Gu Fangzhou and the Chinese road to polio elimination
- Affiliations：
  
  Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Kunming 650118, China
- Author bio：
  
  Corresponding author. E-mail: 1197837196@qq.com (J. Wu) .
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1016/j.cmsj.2026.08.003
  CLC：
- Published：2026-06
- Accepted：
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Wu Jun, Zhao Yuan, Liu Yi-Fan. Dedication to a lifelong mission: Gu Fangzhou and the Chinese road to polio elimination[J]. Chinese Medical Sciences Journal, 2026, 41(2): 84-87.
DOI：

Wu Jun, Zhao Yuan, Liu Yi-Fan. Dedication to a lifelong mission: Gu Fangzhou and the Chinese road to polio elimination[J]. Chinese Medical Sciences Journal, 2026, 41(2): 84-87. DOI： 10.1016/j.cmsj.2026.08.003.

摘要

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.

关键词

Keywords

references

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