Provocation Polio
Historical FactThe polio epidemic was not solely a natural phenomenon. Medical literature from the 1950s confirms that routine injections—specifically DPT—were a primary driver of paralysis, a phenomenon known as "Provocation Poliomyelitis."
Dr. Bertram McCloskey discovered a disturbing correlation: children who received pertussis injections were significantly more likely to develop paralytic polio in the exact limb that was injected.
- The Lancet, 1950
When health authorities in the UK and Australia paused DPT injections during polio outbreaks, paralysis cases plummeted. This proved that the injections themselves were "provoking" latent, harmless polio infections into full-blown paralysis.
Tissue Damage
Intramuscular injections cause trauma to the nerve endings in the limb.
Viral Entry
The polio virus, which normally resides harmlessly in the gut, uses this trauma as a "backdoor" to enter the nervous system.
Paralysis
Once in the nervous system, the virus attacks motor neurons, leading to permanent paralysis in the injected limb.
The "Polio Savior" Myth
This historical fact dismantles the narrative that vaccines "saved us" from polio. In reality, one vaccine (DPT) was actively causing the epidemic that another vaccine (Salk) claimed to solve. The decline in polio was partly due to the cessation of these provocative injections and the redefinition of the disease itself.