SYMPTOMS OF PARALYSIS

Chronicle (Levin), 1 December 1947, Page 4

SYMPTOMS OF PARALYSIS

A child may begin, suddenly or gradually, to develop a cold with a running nose or a headache. He may feel drowsy, stuporous or lose appetite. The sick child , loses interest in its surroundings and frequently becomes irritable, fretful, restless and crosft. The face often becomes flushed,

the muscles twitch and the hands tremble when the child reaches for an object. An examination shows that the throat is inflamed and there is usually fever. Every child with a stiff neck or tenderness over the spinal column should have immediate attention from a doctor. In some cases, convulsions and a state of delirium may occur. .About the sama-time, the muscles become weak and sore. Just why some children are attacked by the disea.se and others fail to become infected is not known 'with certainty. Infantile. paralysis is a disease which usually involves but one child in a family,, though in some epidemics the number of multiple cases is greater. In the majority of these instances the secondary cases come down within two or three day'S to a week of the first case, indicating that all become infected from a common source rather than from each other. The incubation period of the disease is said to be from seven to 14 days. Apparently infantile paralysis as an acute condition inclines to be self-limited. The infected body cures itself, though permanent ,damage to the nervous system may remain.