INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2705, 26 February 1916, Page 14

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

PREVIOUS EPIDEMICS INTERESTING DETAILS [BY . HYGEIA.] In the middle' of the present mouth tho following Press Association message from Auckland appeared in tlio newspapers:— . Six cases of infantile paralysis . .. .were'notified' to;day. The total for the city and country is now 147, making an increase for tho week of 60. - ■-■In a private letter which I'have just received -from one of the teachers in a .girls'.scli66l.in Auckland occurs the fol'.lowingl.r'etfiark; is having a •spell'of-'osceptionally hot weather, and this 'faoiV- together with infantilo paralysis, -makes people rather, afraid, to send their little children to school after tho holidays." ' Previous Epidemics. It is now two years since wo had tho last distinct epidemic of this disease m New Zealand. Karly in .1914 tho community became alarmed on learning iliat a considerable number of children had become more or less seriously paralysed, and wo published in "Our Babies" column, under. Cite auspices of xho Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children, the following letter as typical of the state of anxiety then prevalent throughout tho Dominion The letter and our article in reply were published at tho beginning of April, 1914, when the epidemic was on the wane. We think that republication 'St' tse present moment will tend to allay unaue anxiety, while at the samo timo helping to. safeguard children 'against xho disease: — . 'LETTER OF INQUIRY. * Wo have a baby six months old who is "troubled with hor teeth. Would you be kind .enough to tell me how one could distinguish between the incipient stage of infantile paralysis and ordinary teething trouble. Further, what remedied' or preventive measures could be taken in fighting infantile paralysis? For instance, we have another child of six years going to school, and one of her playmates has taken the disease. ■ What should we do in-those circumstances? 1 am encouraged to write to you in this matter, because our baby is a splendid specimen, under- care of the l'lunket Nurse— Sours faithfully, ANXIOUS PARENT. . REPLY. ■ (Reprinted as it appeared years ago.) . .'Nothing , very! definite is known regarding .the'causation and spread of in•antile'paralysis. No doubt it. is due Ito a specific micro-organism, which will bo identified in due course. Meantime all one/ can- say is that the disease is .q>read'from infected persons to others, ;and possibly also by flies. i In any case, ;you should ;rid your vicinity of flies if •you-are troubled with them. Get rid of all "refuse, garbage, etc., that would nttract and harbour flies, and poison or Irap them by any of the usual means— fiypapers. etc. However, there'is in my opinion almost no ground for anxiety now, because the heavy rain which has fallen and the approach of winter will in all probability have brought the epidemic to ah-.end. The '.fact of a playmate having contracted "the disease naturally .makes you - anxious; but you should clearly understand that-all such epidemics tend'-'to.'run"'.their course and die out, at least i'or a time. It may recur next season, but this will not necessarily bs the-case,-ahd you may he comforted ■ there have been mild .epidemic's of infantile paralysis in New Zealand in fhe past without tlieir lead--mi; to any permanent establishment of the malady as a common one.' Indeed, the present epidemic has been mild, and tho total number of children affected small. There .is no reason for taking a gloomy-view as to the future., Dr." Champtaloup, Professor of Bacteriology at -Otago University, says that, while the individual microbe has not so far been made visible to the microscope, and ■is evidently extraordinarily minute; it has, nevertheless, ;beeh detected *in the "colony-form," and hail been 'cultivated. The cultures give rise xo the disease when -lower animals, such as monkeys, are inoculated, and tliev can also he infected.bv means .of washings from the nose and throat of infected persons. The most dangerous habitat appears to be the nose, from-which it is held that the germs spread to the fluids of the brain and spinal cord, and ..are thus able to give rise- to' thp.= characteristic forms of ■"paralysis! of 'any"part of the body.