INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2920, 4 November 1916, Page 5

INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

A MOTHER'S LETTER. The' following are extracts from a mother's letter received last autumn:— "Every paper one picks up has in it something about infantile paralysis; yet I liavo never seen any account of -what the illness is like, nor of the first symptoms. Ono is often threatened with an illness, and a little knowledge may help ono tp avert it. Could such a case be possible as a threatening of infantile paralysis ?" The mother's main inquiries are concerning flies, and she concludes as follows :— "The winter will, I suppose, do away with the flies; but will the winter have any effect on the infantile paralysis epidemic, or will tlie infantile paralysis l>e with us all the year round?" ANSWER. *f Tho last question is easily answered. The opidemics subside in winter, and m a given locality they tend to skip a year, though individual cases may crop up each year with tho return of warm weather. Further, when once t'ho disease has presented itself inepidemio f?™more or less severe epidemics tend to recur after varying intervals. "The question as to a threatening ot infantile paralysis and the possibility of warding off a. threatened attack is _a rather diflicult one to answer. It is, however, safe to say that after symptoms of infantile paralysis liavo presented themselves an attack of tho disease could not be warded off in the samo way as one can ward off an incipient cold or incipient diarrhoea. By we tho microbes of infantile paralysis have invaded the system and multiplied to the extent of causing symptoms recognisable as those of the disease, tho attack will run it 3 course, though that course may be mild and attended witn no paralysis. ~ We know of no specific means by whicli tlie attack can be averted, though it is quite possible that in the future some serum or anti-toxin, analogous to tlie marvellously effective injections used for diphtheria, may be arrived at. Indeed, it las been claimed that some success lias been achieved already in this direction. However, while there is £0 definite specific measure capable of aborting the disease once it lias manifested :itsel , can say with absolute certainty that tnc .maintenance of a health and vigour air of ensuring the system aFSJ 118 * u K «T>A throughout convalescence. -in© noint is well 0 illustrated' "by the followC case wh eh I extract from the last annual report of the Dunedm branch of How'T True Plunket Baby Camo Unscathed Through an Attack of I us tho following deteid aMOunUf tow atrueHunketbaby (that is, a child who had to rwc, on the simple, hygienic liMs laid down by tho society) came through a very serious attack of infantile paralysis:— "I want to send you a F oto^®? h , a little girl. . She is just three, and last Mav (when two and a naif) 6lie one of threo cases <►£ infar.tila pavab-siß in our district. Her neck was attacked and her head was exactly liko the head of a new-born baby. Her recovery was remarkable, and my husband and T believe it was <lue to lier sturdincss and perfect health,'and to tho way sho mcd while sho was ill. , 1 "Tho child was carried to an open bal conv and stayed there from 8 in.th' morning till 5 m the evening. At night sho slept in a'bedToom with dooi and every window wide open. "All'through a flood and violent storm she lived on this balcony, and at thei end of the fiTst week she made her first faint movement with her head. Mr. Savage (the celebrated surgeon, wlio died in Egypt last year when on war service) saw her at the end of a month, and said he could never have believed that her case bad been so bad had lie not receivedfDiy husband's letter describing her at her worst. . , , 1 "I "believe the reason of her complete and speedy Tccovery was that sho was a tme Plunket baby, and had the # vigour and tieifecfc health to stand her in goon stead; and also that tho outdoor life helped her recovery more than anything" . j r i Six months later we received the following- from the same correspondent: "The little girl is now three and a hair. She is a sturdy one, and has never been a trouble in spite of the infantile paralysis she had a year ago. She made a perfect recovery, although the muscles of her neck were quite paralysed ana her head X think her recovery was due to Plunket methods before and after her illness, for which, her mother isould liko to record her ihanlcs.

ONSET OP INFANTILE PAHALYSIS.

In reply to our correspondent's inquiries regarding the early symptoms of infantile paralysis, I quote the following from Professor Holt's book "The onset of a well-marked attack of infantile paralysis is "usually abrupt, being ushered in with fever, prostration, vomiting, rarely with convulsions. Severe pains are usually present in the neck, tho spine, and the extremities. The mind is usually clear, but there may be active delirium or, rarely, drowsiness or stupor. The temperature usually ranges between 102 degrees and 103.50 Tahr. Such symptoms may continue for three or four days, and then gradually subside, and the patient recover without any paralysis having developed. Or there may bo for a few days a general muscular weakness somewhat greater and lasting little longer than would be expected in an illness of 6uch severity. These are known as 'abortive cases.' In most of them the constitutional and nervous symptoms are similar, but not quite so severe as those just described. Hon frequently the abortive type of tljo disease occurs it is impossible to say; but in epidemics these cases are not uncommon, and doubtless may eqrial the number of the jaralytio cases. Except when associated with the latter they are very difficult of recognition, WARNING TO PARENTS. The above list of symptoms is given not with a view to enabling parents to diagnose or deal with diseaso without the aid of a doctor, but rather to enforce upon them the necessity of getting medical advice without delay. In the early stages there is nothing which would enable the mother to know whether a child itas suffering from the fever known as measles or the fever known as infantile paralysis—indeed, in many cases she could not distinguish the onset of either of these diseases from the onset of a feverish cold or influenza, and the diagnosis sometimes puzzles the doctor for a time. This will be more clearly appreciated from some further remarks ■which I shall have to make lator regarding the abortive type of infantile paralysis. ■

Later, I shall givo ail admirable article on the nature, mannor of conveyance, and means of prevention of infantile paralysis, just published in America as the outcome of the splendid research whicli has been conducted by tho Rockefeller Institute. This -will bring readers right up to date on tho subject.