Figure 1. Brain stem centers damaged by the poliovirus involved in brain activation and blood pressure and heart rate regulation.
Ongoing surveillance in formerly endemic Central and South American countries confirms that poliovirus transmission remains interrupted.
Postmortem histopathology from nearly fifty years ago demonstrated the consistent presence of poliovirus lesions in specific brain areas.
It organized trials of poliovirus and measle vaccines and more recently the very successful combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Predisposition to motor neuron degeneration because of the glial, vascular, and lymphatic changes caused by poliovirus.