Crossword Genius

Disease control: nothing can take the place of church (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

polio

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'disease' is the definition.
(polio is a kind of health problem)

'control nothing can take the place of church' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'nothing' could be 'o' (O resembles 0) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'place' could be 'pl' (abbreviation used in postal addresses) and 'pl' is present in the remaining letters.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
A single letter 'i' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for polio that I've seen before include "Viral disease which can cause paralysis ( 5)" , "Acute viral disease" , "Paralysing disease" , "rarely seen complaint" , "Viral disease causing paralysis" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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