INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2699, 19 February 1916, Page 6

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

INTERESTING PARTICULARS BY THE DISTRICT HEALTH OFFICER DISEASE BECOMING MORE COMMON IN ENGLAND To ascertain tire precise situation ir which the district of AVellington stands 1 in regard to tho mild outbreak of infantilo paralysis, or to be more correcl anterior polio-niylitis, a representative of Tun Dominion waited upon tho District Health Officer (Dr. S. Smith) yesterday, and was given some valuable information on tho subject, which will bt • read with interest by tlie public, ant ! by parents in particular. In the firsi instance, Dr. Smith referred to th< paragraph which appeared in yesterday': J Dominion' re the number of cases ir t Wellington (given as three), pointing out tha£ these three cases were not ir AVollington' city, but in the Hospita' and Charitable Aid Board's district As a matter of fact, thero had beet only ono deiinito case in AYellingtor city. Another —where the patient hat died—was not proved to be polio-iny-litis. It may and probably was a cas< of meningitis. Assuming that it wa-f infantilo paralysis, as the Hospita] authorities had in their report, that wa: two eases, and there was another ir tho Horowhenua district, making threo ■Still another case bad been rcportec yesterday from Silverstream. Fifteen Cases In Wellington Health District. Hi the Wellington Public, Health Dis trict tho total number of definite cases reported numbered fifteen', and they hac occurred in such widely-separated places ns Wellington, New Plymouth, Hawera tlisborne. Dannevirke, and Levin. Othei . supposed cases'had been reported, bui Sere was cause for doubt as to .whcthei i they were genuine cases of anterior polio i mylitis. At present thero was not th( slightest evidence to support the idea 1 that thero had been any spread of tilt disease from the Wellington eases, and in tliat there would be some source ol satisfaction. Precautionary Measures. Wherever a case was discovered, mea- ■ snres were at once taken to prevenl coiitagion. The patient was at oncf isolated—either taken to an isolatioi: Hospital or isolated in the house. As soon as the patient was removed the house was completely disinfected, and any clothing worn by the patient oi those who had come into contact wit! the' patient was sterilised. If thert wero oth<*r children in tho house thej were at once ordered to cease attending school, and for a fortnight afterward; all contacts were advised to treat the nose and throat with antiseptic sprays, to suck antiseptic tablets, and to assotiate as littTe as possible with children. A Hot Weather Disease. • Dr. Smith states that outbreaks oi Hie disease have only been known tc cccur during spells of hot and dusty weather, and lie hinted that a spell ol i bracing southerly weather was alniosi sure to servo as a check to the spreac of the disease. Experience had shown that in the large majority of eases tho worst had usually occurred before or at the time eases were reported. Invariably an Improvement was registered after a case was taken in hand. The treatment took the form of clectrical massage, n .l"ch was found effective in the prevention of deformities through contraction. Anti-Serum from Apes, Furtherthan that, cases were .treated by tho injection of a serum, or rather an antt-seruui, from apes (monkeys), or lrom human beings. Much research work in connection with anterior poliomylitis ha-d been doneattheltackfeller Institute in America by Flaxener and a Japanese investigator' named Noguclii. It was those gentlemen who had tho eurotropino (German) or hexamet-a-zalmo-totropine treatment, taken invariably through tho mouth, which had beon found to have antiseptic effect on_the. spinal fluid. Since 1909 there bad i>een a good many epidemics' of the diseaso an France, where Dr. Nettcr had made many experiments. It- was known that a sufferer lrom tho- diseaso never bad a second attack, and that had given him the idea of taking a blood serum, of anti-toxic power, from cases, and injecting it into the spinal canal of patients in tho early stages of the trouble. Ho obtained very good results from such treatment. Flaxener, of tho Rockefeller Institute, went still further by experimenting on, apes, and talcing a blood serum from them for use as a curative agent. Attempts were made, too,, by experimenting with horses, which had been found to bo so effective a: a serum-producer for diphtheria, but it was found that tho horse was immune from infection. It was found that the disease developed with greater virulence in apes than in the human being. The.v (apes) were usually seized with paralysis within a day or two, and died within a week, which led to the serum being taken from them for the treatment of humans with satisfactory results. Average Deaths. In Europe and America the mortality rate ranged from 5 to 17 per cent., an average, perhaps, of 10 per. cout! The average number of cases, whero Borne permanent deformity resulted, was about 60 per cent., but in the oase of New Zealand, he anticipated that the average would bo less than that named. It was too early to draw deductions for statistical purposes as to the number of cases from which some perman-, cut dcfect would ensue, as the treat, ment of a case would extend for at least six months. - , A Minute Organism. Dr. Smith states that tho organism of anterior polio-mylitis was located practically recently, that is to say, within the last two'years. It was so minute- that it was able to find its wav through the pores of a porcelain • filter. But cultures had since been made at the Rockefeller/ Institute, and by some Swedish- investigators. At Homo the disease usually occurred ill the warm weather of July and August, and was getting a more common occurrence each year. The organism is globoid in shape, and is from .1 to .3 of a miero-millimetre in diameter. It received part of its name ("anterior") from the fact that it attacked the nerve centres in the inoto-cells of anterior horns of the spinal-cord sections, affecting tho nerves that extended from thoso cells to the muscles. Dr. Smith had the privilege in 1913 of hearing Flaxener lecture both on spinal meningitis and anterior poliomylit.is at the Edinburgh University, on which occasions the late Sir AVilliam Turner occupied the chair. FURTHER CASES IN AUCKLAND. By Tcleffranh.—Press Association. Auckland, February 18. Infantile paralysis is still spreading steadily, seven more cases being notified to-day. One death was reported. There have no\v been 217 cases in the province, including fifteen deaths. FATAL' CASE AT NAPIER. Napier, Fehruarv !S. A child died of infantile paralysis today. Another case is being troafced at the hospital. POSITION IN GISBOR-NE. Up to the present, five cases of infimlilfl pnr.il.wis Imvo linen reported and ono death has occurred* .i.