Early Symptoms Like Those Of Relatively Harmless Complaints

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 3, 2 December 1947, Page 4

Early Symptoms Like Those Of Relatively Harmless Complaints

Approached by a Beacon representative yesterday, Dr E. T. Dawson, medical Superintendent at the District Hospital, said that the early symptoms of infantile paralysis were like those of many childish complaints, including some types of common colds and influenza. Any child with a fever or any symptoms which may he suspected as thGse of poliomyelitis should be put to bed and kept clear of other children. It was not possible to make a positive diagnosis until there were some signs of paralysis developing, and, in any event, the most important early treatment was rest and avoidance of' chills.

He said no suspected cases had been heard of here and expressed the hope that all children’s gatherings and even child travel would be stopped. Dr Dawson said the virus seemed more likely to be found in confined spaces, and he advised that children should be kept outdoors as much as possible in the fresh air. Particular care should be taken to guard against the contamination of food by flies, and polluted water should be shunned. He endorsed the health inspector’s warning about swimming in the Whakatane river, and agreed with the notes on symptoms and treatment quoted hereafter. ... ,

Watch Those Flies ! It is not known entirely how the minutely small virus of the disease is spread but it is known that the link is in close human contact. The virus has been found in the throat and mouth, and in excreta not only of patients but of contacts and healthy persons. During an epidemic it has been isolated in city sewage, from flies and from fly-contaminated food. For every person who develops poliomyelitis there are at least five others who have a mild febrile illness lasting- from one to three days and characterised by fever, malaise, headache, . vomiting, and perhaps a sore throat. Paralysis may follow three or four days after apparent recovery from a mild attack.

The second and more severe attack has more marked symptoms, including a headache, stiff neck, pain in the back, tenderness of the muscles, restiveness, drowsiness and liability to a paralysis. Another type of attack is a continued*fever culminating a paralysis.