For most people polio is synonymous with paralysis, but do most people actually know what polio is? Polio is a type C human enterovirus (HEVC). There are literally hundreds of strain types and they can and do cross mutate. This virus is classified into polio type and non-polio type. Exposure to an enterovirus is not uncommon and in most cases, like with polio, it’s a benign presence. 

According to the FDA:

"Approximately 90% to 95% of poliovirus infections are asymptomatic. Nonspecific illness with low-grade fever and sore throat (minor illness) occurs in 4% to 8% of infections. Aseptic meningitis occurs in 1% to 5% of patients a few days after the minor illness has resolved. Rapid onset of asymmetric acute flaccid paralysis occurs in 0.1% to 2% of infections, and residual paralytic disease involving motor neurons (paralytic poliomyelitis) occurs in approximately 1 per 1,000 infections."

In the United States recent headlines have been circulating about a rare “polio-like” paralysis that is afflicting children. This affliction is known as acute flaccid myelitis or AFM. 

Here is what the CDC says:

“Conditions like acute flaccid myelitis can be caused by a variety of germs, including several viruses:

• Enteroviruses (polio and non-polio)
• West Nile virus (WNV) and viruses in the same family as WNV, specifically Japanese encephalitis virus and Saint Louis encephalitis virus
• Adenoviruses

AFM is one of a number of conditions that can result in neurologic illness with limb weakness. Such illnesses can result from a variety of causes, including viral infections, environmental toxins, genetic disorders, and Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurologic disorder caused by an abnormal immune response that attacks the body’s nerves. Oftentimes, however, despite extensive laboratory testing, a cause for AFM is unable to be identified.”

Let’s place some emphasis on that last sentence, “Oftentimes, however, despite extensive laboratory testing, a cause for AFM is unable to be identified.” Kind of makes you wonder how they were so certain it was polio causing the cases of paralysis in the 40’s and 50’s.

Neurologic illness and limb weakness can also be an adverse outcome of vaccination, but perhaps that is included in "Environmental toxins".

The World Health Organization (WHO) is patting themselves on the back for eradicating ‘wild-type’ polio from certain regions of the world. In fact, the WHO has a strategic plan to completely remove the oral polio vaccine (OPV) from worldwide use. The OPV is a live virus vaccine and according to the WHO over 90% of paralytic polio cases have been due to circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses. That means the vaccine is actually causing the very thing they are attempting to prevent.

In polio-free India cases of paralysis have skyrocketed from just around 3,000 cases a year prior to the start of the OPV campaign to over 50,000 cases per year. In this article by Jeffrey Dach, MD this phenomenon is explained quite well:

“The National Polio Surveillance Project data show that the polio eradication program has increased paralysis among children—from 3,047 cases yearly in 1997 to 61,038 cases in 2012, most now being classified as AFP instead of polio.(31) (note AFP=Acute Flaccid Paralysis)”

Here we have “successfully” eradicated wild type polio from a country,(India) with the use of oral polio vaccine, yet the number of cases of acute flaccid paralysis has increased 20-fold.  This is not success.  This is failure.   This type of self delusion is typical of government agencies run by morons, however to the most casual observer, this is an obvious farce.”

When they say an area is "polio free" or that "polio" has been "eradicated" from an area...what they really mean is the cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) are stool testing negative for "polio" enterovirus...

It does not mean that people are no longer experiencing acute onset paralysis or that the polio enterovirus is actually gone from the environment....

One of the problems with eradicating a virus like polio is that it has a high probability to recombine with other co-circulating enterovirus strains. Recombination is the rearrangement of genetic material, especially by crossing over in chromosomes.

Let's look at some of the peer reviewed literature that discuss enterovirus recombination:

Recombination in Circulating Enteroviruses:

“Recombination is known to occur readily between the three strains of live poliovirus vaccine upon oral administration (4, 29, 31) and between vaccine and/or wild poliovirus strains (10, 13-15, 17, 27, 29). Up to 79% of poliovirus strains secreted after vaccination were found to be recombinants....”

The importance of enterovirus surveillance in a Post-polio world:

“In the last few years, several new enteroviruses belonging to species C have been identified in respiratory samples from patients with respiratory illness, including enteroviruses C104, C105, C109 and C117 [11]. Some of these new enteroviruses are not detectable in stool and/or cerebrospinal fluids, but require the testing of, for example, respiratory material.”

Recombination between Poliovirus and Coxsackie A Viruses of Species C: A Model of Viral Genetic Plasticity and Emergence:

"The interest for this mechanism of genetic plasticity was renewed with the emergence of pathogenic recombinant circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs), which were implicated in poliomyelitis outbreaks in several regions of the world with insufficient vaccination coverage. Most of these cVDPVs had mosaic genomes constituted of mutated polio vaccine capsid sequences and part or all of the non-structural sequences from other human enteroviruses of species C (HEV-C), in particular coxsackie A viruses…”

Coxsackie A virus is better known as hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). It is a non-polio type enterovirus. The above citation documents that HFMD and polio enteroviruses are fully capable of cross mutating. It is possible for these mutations to form new strains that have the potential of becoming pathogenic. We also learn in the citations above that emerging HEVC strains are no longer detected in fecal matter but in respiratory secretions. This could be the real reason WHO wants to end the use of the live virus OPV campaigns. They must already realize the implications of co-circulating enterovirus recombinations and the progeny that have already resulted. It calls to question the notion that polio, as an enterovirus, can be eradicated. 

Let's review the causes of paralysis:

• Viral infections (this is plural)
• Environmental toxins
• Genetic disorders

In other words it's not polio. I hope you will consider these points the next time you hear someone say “you wouldn't want to bring back polio and iron lungs”. The nature of a virus is much more complicated than we ever imagined. Are we naïve to assume we can outsmart nature? 

Michelle Cotterman, RN APP is a co-founder of Health Freedom Ohio. She is the mother of two naturally raised children. Her continuing education focuses on Holistic Health and includes Polarity Therapy, Homeopathy, and Herbalism. Michelle has been studying the science behind vaccines and the vaccine industry since 2010.