The Claim:
A re-platformed anti-vaxxer has taken to Twitter to claim that polio never went anywhere because both DDT and the vaccine itself caused it. He also claims that the American Medical Association changed the diagnostic criteria for polio to make it seem like it was eliminated.
The Facts:
Polio is a viral infection caused by the poliovirus. The virus was first isolated in 1908 and, in research, was given to a healthy animal subject to show that the virus did cause polio. Two healthy monkeys were injected with spinal cord fluid from a boy who had died of polio; the monkeys subsequently developed polio and died.
While pesticides such as DDT might be associated with neurological effects such as paralysis, which might mirror the side effects of polio, the way polio causes paralysis differs from how a pesticide might. Additionally, DDT was occasionally used in a misguided attempt to stop the spread of polio when some believed it was spread by flies, meaning that the polio outbreaks preceded some of the exposure to DDT.
The peak use of DDT was in 1959, when polio cases started declining, thanks to the polio vaccine.
If DDT and not a virus cause polio, could the tweeter explain how he claims a vaccine made can cause polio but not the wild-type virus? Mixing mythology and science has led him to fallacious logic.
Disclaimer: Science is always evolving and our understanding of these topics may have evolved since this was originally posted. Browse the latest information posted in Just the Facts Topics.
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