Is Polio a ‘Disease’ of the Summer ?
Original Post: Why was polio a disease of the summer? Why did it occur more in warm months? Children were exposed to each other during the school year in classrooms, too. What was it about summer?
Additional Post: Does anyone know what year it was determined that polio was transferred via oral/fecal contamination? I can understand the warmer weather for contact as it is believed I got it while playing in a rain swollen drainage ditch with my friend; he came down with the "flu."
Dr. Bruno’s Response: Actually, the biggest month for polio in general was September! It was warm and children went back to school. That was David Bodian's work in the 1940s. The polioviruses are like any virus that grows in the gut: it likes warm humid places so summer is the perfect time for polio, especially when people are out and about and mingling with each other. We must remember it took (takes) more than a week for the symptoms of polio to reveal themselves. So you could be infected in September and show symptoms in October.
All of these answers, and even pictures, are in The Polio Paradox and the Encyclopedia of Polio and PPS.