September 8, 2023 — The polio virus attacks nerves in the spinal cord, causing paralysis. Of crucial importance was the diaphragm, a muscle above the stomach that controls the lungs, which don’t have their own muscles. As the diaphragm moves up, it pushes air out, and when it moves down, air is sucked inward. If the polio virus attacks the diaphragm nerves, the patient can die of suffocatio...