page_title: Charles Armstrong (physician)
section_title: Polio
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Armstrong (physician) / Virological research / Polio
caption_attribution_description: Bronze Bust of Charles Armstrong at Warm Springs
context_page_description: Charles Armstrong was an American physician in the U.S. Public Health Service. He coined the name Lymphocytic choriomeningitis in 1934 after isolating the hitherto completely unknown virus. He discovered in 1939 that poliovirus can be transmitted to cotton rats, and started self-tests with nasal spray vaccination.
context_section_description: While still doing research work on LCM in 1939, Armstrong was able, for the first time, to adapt and transmit a human strain of poliovirus (the rarer and less dangerous Lansing type 2 strain)  from monkeys to small rodents, first to the cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus hispidus) and then to white mice. This accomplishment was revolutionary as it made possible the study of many aspects of infection and immunity in humans that could scarcely have been carried out with monkeys. The discovery also stimulated the renewal of efforts to adapt and establish the other immunologic types of poliomyelitis, leading to methods that resulted in the eventual developments of successful vaccines for poliomyelitis.
  In recognition of his achievements in polio research and prevention Armstrong was inducted into the Polio Hall of Fame in Warm Springs, Georgia.
caption: Armstrong's bronze bust at Warm Springs
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