INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2743, 11 April 1916, Page 6

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

A DOCTOR'S ADVICE

DR. SIDNEY SMITH INVESTIGATES

Dr. Sidney Smith, District Health Officer, has been making a close investigation into what might be the causes of infantile paralysis and how this elusive but troublesome disoase is disseminated.- He selected as Lis ground Hip Hastings-Napier locality, where the disease lias been distressingly prevalent. In tho course of an interview, Dr. Smith stated that it would probably bo about a week before tho effects of tho present colder weather were felt. There -would then probably be a diminution in the number of cases reported. Districts were getting more on the alert, and since the towns in Tarauaki had started to take precautions, practically no cases had been reported. The same thing had occurred in. Gis* borne, where very few cases had occurred of late. After he had visited' that portion of tho East Coast, a- very energetic health campaign had been commenced, and the disease thero was practically stamped out. There had been a slight recrudescence of infantile paralysis there recently, but the outbreak had now practically died away. Dr. Smith, dealing with the disease in other countries, siia that more or less severo epidemics had been reported in America and Europe since 1841, but the most serious on record were those that occurred a few years ago in Scandinavia, when 1500 cases were reported, and in Now York city in 1907. In the four years between 1905 and 1909 as many as_ 8000 cases were reported, and of this number 5500 occurred in America. Symptoms of the Disease. Touching on the symptoms of the disease, Dr. Smith stated • that a child | might, show signs of restlessness and irritability and digestive disturbances. The temperature would rise to 100 or 102, and there might he. pain, such as headache, or_ pain at the back of the neck and 6pine. Vomiting wa6 not uncommon, but sore throat was by no moans a common symptom. In many cases excessive perspiration was noticeable. Sometimes the irritability passed away and the patient became drowsy. Within 48 hours paralysis usually supers vened. It might attack any of the muscles, but it was mora common in the muscles of the limbs. After paralysis set in the constitutional symptoms disappeared, aiid in most cases an improvement was noticeable. The presence of an attack, might also be signified by the slight .paralysis of a limb, aud in such cases the patient apparently made a recovery, but was attacked a few days later with further paralysis. An Important Precaution. The experience of" doctors, added Dr.Smith,_ has shown that from one-half to one-third of the.infantile paralysis cases were left more or less with permanent paralysis, but five or six months must elapse after ■an attack before anything '■ definite in this direction could be assumed. In some cases paralysis had not supervened until as' long as a year after the attack.

One important precaution that should be taken was the regmlar disinfecting of all churches, theatres, taxi-cabs, bil-liard-rooms, auction-rooms, and libraries. Shops should be swent out with water to which had been added a-disln-fectant. Rubbish should not be allow, ed to accumulate anywhere, and publio thoroughfares should be watered sufficiently to keep down the dust. Sea water was preferable for this latter operation. TJndoxibtedly, said Dr. Smith, one cause of the disease was insanitary conditions, which lowered the vitality. Another was over exposure— either to heat or cold.

The Department's experience had shown that the disease was prevalent in plaoes where there were large numbers of fleas. He had seen more ileas in Hastings than he had seen in any of the slums at Home. The locality was simply over-run with them, and many of the cases were smothered with fleabites. The fleas were terribly voracious, and one inspector had caught as many as thirty-five on one sleeve after going into one house. Fleas should be stamped out, and domestic animals, which undoubtedly encouraged them and acted as breeding agents, were not desuable about a habitation. j ' .Another, point that was well worth consideration was the fact that the throat, even of a healthy person, often acted as_a lodging-place for the organisms. There was no reason why nil persons should not gargle their throats with an antiseptic or use the solution as a nasal douche. This was nuito aa simple an operation as cleaning the teeth, and it was to ho hoped that tho practice he had indicated would become general. An added precaution was tho •scalding of all milk used. Advice to Parents. Dr. Smith's advice to parents—he em, phasised this point—was that • adults should not be permitted to kiss- children, as by such means the latter might contract the disease. This was duo to the fact that grown-ups sometimes carried infection around with them without actually hsiug attacked by the disease. Children should not be permitted to attend public gatherings, and should not be exposed directly to sunlight nor chills. Breeding places foi' flies and insects should be wiped out and foodstuffs should not be exposed ;to flics and dust. If the proper pre cautions wore taken by ' householders and the civic authorities, it ought to be possible to suppress the disease in a few weeks. Suspected cases should bo reported promptly, as-efficient action sometimes made an attack abortive When the organism found its way into the body, it attacked the spinal cord which became inflamed. The raotei nerve cells , were then destroyed,- and paralysis followed. THIRTY-TWO CASES IN CANTERBURY. By Telegraph- .AMocintj-n Ohrlstchuroh, April 10. Two cases, of infantile paralysis aro reported from .South Canterbury—a young woman aged nineteen Rnd a girl of fivo. There have been thirty-two 'cases to date in Canterbury, and four deaths. DEATH OF A YOUNG MAN. By' Telegraph—Press Association. Blenheim, April 10. _ There has been a fatal case of infantilo paralysis at Picton—that of a young I man aged twonty years. LATEST WELLINGTON REPORT. Three new cases were reported to the Department of Public Health yesterday:— AVaipukurau 1 Wellington 1 Picton 1 The Wellington - oaeo is in tho Berhampore district.