INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2670, 17 January 1916, Page 3

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

MILD EPIDEMIC IN AUCKLAND FIFTEEN CASES REPORTED There is evidence to suggest that a mild epidemic of infantile paralysis is now prevalent in Auckland," says the "Herald." ,In the early months of 1914 there was rather a serious outbreak in 1 New Zealand, especially' in Dunedin, where over 40 cases were ' leportod. ' Consequent upon the action taken by | the Health authorities, however, tho | epidemic was arrested, and not a great deal has been heard of the disease since. At the present time there are 15 cases | in Auckland, but in no instance is the. 1 patient severely afflicted, tho cases being described as "mild." They are connnecl to children between the ages of . six months and four years. No deaths have been reported ill connection with tlie present, outbreak, and, as a mat--1 ter of fact, most of tho patients are recovering. The diseaso is not being met with in one particular district in : Auckland, but is scattered over a large area. Peculiar Features. Although «,-omparatively ■ little is known of the disease, cases of it have been reported several times during re- . cent summers. It -eems, however, to , bu more common at present than for several years past. Tho Health Department's officers do not ascribe any spe- ! cial cause to the present outbreak. It is presumed, from s.nalogy with other diseases/ to bo microbic in origin, but a peculiar fact is. that in experimental work a germ has never been traced. Another strange feature is that jnfantilo paralysis has no special relation to social or sanitary defects, and sometimes it moro frequently occurs in sparsely populated districts than in thickly populated centres. It has been possible to infcct monkeys and other animals with the disease by injecting into them a dis-' charge from affected patients. Tho supposed germ is ultra-microscopical in size, and affects the respiratory and digestive traoss._ The disease is apparently conveyed in the majority of cases by contact, although instances have been known tfhere four children have slept in the one bed a>.'d one has had the disease, j;ot the other three have escaped contagion. The house-flv, domestic vermin, and doubtful milk supply have each been blamed, but the case against them has never been fully substantiated. Symptoms of the Disease. The effect of the presence of the germ seems to be the production of a poison which centres its operations chiefly ill the spinal column, and sets up an inflammation round tho motor colls, ultimately injuring, or even destroying them. Tho result is paralysis of the groups of -motor muscles controlled by tho affected part of the spinal cord; and after that wastage of the muscles. There is no characteristic skin eruption in connection with infan-tile'-paralysis or anterior poliomyolitis, to give it its medical' name. The symptoms begin with a fevorish attack, following upon an incubation period of about four days. Malaise and drowsiness, accompanied by headache and vomiting, follow, witir catarrh of the nose and lliroat. Patients should be isolated. For a full three weeks after the disappearance of tho fevorish symptoms, contacts should bo prevented from having intimate association with other people.