Polio is back in the news, but is it back in circulation in the U.S. and a threat?
Bottom Line: No. The vaccine-strain-derived virus is not being found in the population, just in wastewater. For 99% of the population, polio is asymptomatic or mild, general-purpose natural antiviral protocols are available, and naturally acquired immunity is lifelong.
A man in New York was recently diagnosed with vaccine-strain polio and then testing of the wastewater found the virus is present. This has happened in a few places around the world. This isn’t actually new news since polio is commonly detected in wastewater around then world. The best summary why this is happening can be found in this Children’s Health Defense article: Polio: Why Vaccines Are to Blame for Rising Number of Cases
Should you be worried? No. Be informed.
FAST STATS on POLIO
- 70% of cases are asymptomatic and 25% have mild symptoms, leading to lifelong immunity
- Generally, there are underlying chronic illness factors, malnutrition, or recent harmful environmental exposures that lead an individual to be among those experiencing severe disease.
- Spread occurs person-to-person via the fecal-oral or oral-oral routes. “The fecal-oral route is the most important transmission pathway in settings with suboptimal hygiene and sanitation.” CDC
- Besides sanitation and hygiene to reduce fecal exposure, prevention and treatment options include nutraceuticals (Vitamins A, D, C, zinc, NAC), proper hygiene, gargling and nasal flushes, which are proven to improve the immune’s system ability to deal with viral infections.
- Because of their mechanisms of action, protocols developed to prevent and treat COVID-19, such as ivermectin and zinc, may also be helpful with viruses such as polio.
A thoughtful reading of the CDC’s FAQ on vaccine-derived-polio virus (VDPV) shows:
- VDPV comes from the weakened live poliovirus contained in oral polio vaccine (OPV)
- Those who get an OPV can shed, and the virus can spread and mutate
- OPV induces immunity in the gut, where the virus grows.
- OPV is no longer used in the U.S. because of risk of paralytic disease in those who get receive it, as well as risk of shedding and spreading the vaccine strain
- Inactivated polio virus vaccine (IPV) is now given in the U.S.
- IPV does not induce immunity in the gut
- If exposed to any polio virus, individuals vaccinated with IPV can still be infected, and the virus passes out through stool into the sewer system
- Circulation of polio and other viruses that colonize in the gut are greatly reduced by “access to clean water, good hand hygiene habits, modern sewage systems and wastewater management”
Naturally Acquired Immunity is lifelong
“. . . before the introduction of modern sanitation, polio infection was acquired during infancy, at which time it seldom caused paralysis but provided lifelong immunity against polio infection and paralysis later in life” R.M. Krause
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1509258/ Cited by Crawford in Naturally Acquired Immunity to Poliovirus: Historical Observations Have Been Ignored )
There are phases of life when it’s safer to experience certain infections in order to develop lifelong immunity. With infections that are primarily spread through stool, improved sanitation drastically reduces the incidence by reducing exposure. Increased sanitation worldwide is the most effective means of reducing exposure, and thus reducing the rare bad outcome. This is very good, but it also means infants no longer have the opportunity to develop lifelong immunity.
Children’s Health Defense Article Polio: Why Vaccines Are to Blame for Rising Number of Cases
History of Polio Misinformation What about Polio & Smallpox?
