by Bill Sardi, Lew Rockwell:

Public Health Officials Said To Be Clueless Over Outbreak Of Paralytic Polio-Like Infections In Children

An alarming rise in the number of cases of a mysterious polio-like illness that produces paralysis in young children is said to have “health officials scrambling to figure out the cause.”[1] Baffled infectious disease experts are quoted to say: “What we do know is that these patients had fever and respiratory symptoms 3 to 10 days before their limb weakness.”

But the primary culprit, believed to be enterovirus 68, produced no laboratory confirmed cases in 2016.  The World Health Organization has been charting acute flaccid paralysis on a worldwide basis for some time now.  It is not a new phenomenon.  However, acute flaccid paralysis confirmed by viral testing was not even reported in America in the years 2003-2004.[2]  Nor was a single case of acute flaccid paralysis reported in the U.S. till the fall of 2014 (120 confirmed cases).  Over 150 cases have been reported by mid-November 2018.[3]  This outbreak is geographically widespread, reported in 46 states.[4]  This suggests contaminated food rather than water may be involved.

Enterovirus-68, which is the enterovirus believed to be triggering the recent outbreak of flaccid paralysis, was first isolated in 1962 from children with respiratory illness and remained in limited circulation in the U.S. for four decades with only 26 cases reported between 1970 and 2005.[5]

Acute flaccid paralysis is defined as sudden paralysis in any part of the body of a child less than 15 years of age, though this paralysis may also occur among adults.[6]  Paralysis may be due to infection by the polio virus or non-polio viruses.[7]

The disturbing photos of young children who can’t move their limbs has the public on edge.  A scientific report published in the European Journal of Pediatric Neurology is numbingly entitled: “Enterovirus D68 acute flaccid paresis: destroying young lives.”[8]With a growing number of distressing news reports, The Centers For Disease Control has assembled a task force to make it appear it is dealing with the problem.[9]

But precisely what can public health authorities do but wait for a vaccine that can never materialize because there are myriads of enteroviruses that have been identified.  As of 2016 there were 110 genetically distinct enteroviruses that infect humans.[10]

There will never be a 110-in-1 shot that inoculates against all enteroviruses.  Modern medicine is so overcommitted to vaccines as its sole armament against infectious disease it can’t even concede the medical literature points in a clear but intentionally overlooked direction: nutrition.

The family of viruses involved are known as Picornavidae and include Coxsackie viruses and widely circulating enterovirus 68 and 71 which millions of children are exposed to with only a very few cases gravitating to paralysis.

The public may hope and pray their children never are infected by these enteroviruses. But virtually everyone on the planet is or will be infected at some time or another and will experience a mild fever as memory antibodies are produced against them.  Most will develop life-long immunity to this infectious disease.

Enteroviruses, which include the polio virus, are RNA viruses that are parasites that reside inside living cells and replicate rapidly.  Upon exposure the innate immune system (first responding white blood cells – monocytes, neutrophils) is alerted and limits the infection.

Enteroviruses are said to be the most common viral agents in humans. The medical literature indicates most enterovirus infections are mild or asymptomatic, but for unexplained reasons a few individuals (mostly children age 6 months to 15 years of age) suffer from nervous system attack of varying degrees of severity.[11]

Because contagious enteroviral infections may produce sores and rashes around the mouth, hands and feet or buttocks, they are also classified as “hand-foot-and-mouth disease.” Personal hygiene (hand washing) is recommended though enteroviruses are better prevented with nutrition.

The provision of supplemental zinc almost immediately calms these symptoms and quickens their disappearance.[12]

These enteroviral infections are seasonal in nature and more common in spring and the fall.  Symptoms may last for a few days and include fever, refusal to eat and fatigue.  Given that enteroviruses are generally considered to be harmless, how do these horrific cases of paralysis emanate?

Widespread environmental contamination

Contaminated water[13] and food[14] are blamed.  But enteroviruses are ubiquitous (found in all) foodstuffs.  One study shows infective enteroviruses were found in 79% of crops.[15]

Food and water are just the common vectors – the pathways of transmission.  Enteroviruses (Picornaviruses) are the most common infectious agents encountered by mankind.[16]  The health status of human populations has been linked with the seasonal load of enteroviruses in water supplies.[17]  Because enteroviruses produce symptoms similar to those produced by the influenza virus, most victims initially believe they have the flu.

The virus is shed in stool after infection and often transferred back to infants as mothers change diapers and fecal material is transferred from hand to mouth. Viral shedding from stool can persist for months.[18]

Recurrence of infection can occur as there are a group of viruses, the most common being Coxsackie virus, that are ubiquitous in foods, water and the environment.

Handwashing, which is a commonly advised practice to prevent re-infection from viral shedding in stool, will do nothing to prevent exposure to enteroviruses in food and drinking water.

Beyond polio and paralysis

Enteroviruses can be nasty and life threatening.  Enteroviruses cause polio, hand-foot & mouth disease, respiratory illness, gastroenteritis, meningitis, myocarditis (heart), hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (eye bleed), pancreatitis and Type I (childhood onset) diabetes and Guillain-barre syndrome (progressive toe-to-head paralysis).

Turning point: enter arsenic

But why are just a few young children out of millions overcome by this virus?

We begin to learn more from a landmark report that serves as a turning point in the understanding of how to prevent and treat enteroviruses.  This telling report was published in 2010 and largely ignored.  Researcher Ylva Molin reveals how arsenic, a heavy metal, influences the replication of coxsackie viruses (this virus named after the city in New York where such an enteroviral outbreak occurred).

Wikipedia notes that non-viral causes of polio-like symptoms are observed from chemicals like arsenic.[19]

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