Have you heard of a Dr. William Campbell Douglas, editor of a publication called "Second Opinion," and his contention that polio "may be with us again in a disguised form."
I have read Dr. Douglas's writings on this. But the idea that polio "may be with us again in a disguised form", this is not true. I don't think this is really what he's saying.
We may be mistakenly calling it chronic fatigue syndrome (U.S.) or myalgic encephalomyelitis (England). According to him, polio is more common than ever and may actually be caused by the polio vaccination.
Polio is NOT more common than ever and is NOT caused by the polio vaccination. [Dr. Bruno is commenting on the above, not on Vaccine Associated Polio (VAP) resulting from Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV)] There is no evidence that any of the polio viruses cause CFS.
Dr. Douglas argues that the Salk and Sabin vaccines did not eliminate polio at all but forced it to change. While the vaccines suppressed the polio virus, it was replaced by genetically similar ones, such as Coxsackie virus often found in elevated levels in chronic fatigue syndrome patients.
Poliovirus being replaced by OTHER similar viruses is very different than polio being "with us again in a disguised form", "polio being more common than ever, being caused by the polio vaccination" or poliovirus "changing." There is no consistent evidence of ANY virus, even the Coxsackie viruses, being "found in elevated levels in chronic fatigue syndrome patients." However, "replacing" the poliovirus with a similar virus is a different story and may be what's happening in CFS.
A British infectious disease specialist, Dr. Betty Dowsett, has been collaborating with us on our new studies of the links between PPS and CFS. She has sent me data showing that CFS cases rose significantly in the 1950s when the polio vaccines came on the scene. Her idea, repeated by Dr. Campbell, is that, like when one flock of birds takes over the territory of another flock when the first flock dies, other enteroviruses (especially the Coxsackie viruses) "took over" the territory of the 3 polio viruses when the polio vaccines reduced their number. There are several Coxsackie viruses that damage the brain activating system and could cause fatigue like that seen in CFS and PPS. There is even a Coxsackie virus (Coxsackie A7) that causes a condition identical to traditional paralytic polio, so similar in fact that it has even been called Russian Polio and even Poliovirus Type IV. There is nothing unique about the polio viruses' ability to chew up the spinal cord and the brain stem.
We have a new paper on the parallels between PPS and CFS, describing the viral links between Coxsackie and other viruses and brain activating system damage, out in September in the American Journal of Medicine. The article is on the Harvest Center Web Page with our other articles on viral damage to the brain a post-viral fatigue.
Dr. Richard L. Bruno
Chairperson International
Post-Polio Task Force and Director The
Post-Polio Institute
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center
Englewood, New Jersey 07631
Phone: (201) 894-3724 Toll Free: 1-877-POST- POLIO Fax: (201) 894-0324
PPSENG@AOL.COM