Infantile Paralysis

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 25, 13 February 1937, Page 7

Infantile Paralysis

H. R.

FJEtENCH.

(To the Editor.) Sir— in tlie JEtockefellef FOufldation'a roil of mattyrs in the battle against disease is a yOtilig Canadian doctor, who lost his life by the poliomyelitis he was seeking to conquer. The somewhat misleading popular name of this scourge ih infantile paralysis, but it can taaim and kill adults as well as ehildieiii Attempta to obtain a eeruin from those who have recoveted ifotn the disease has been strangely iaeking in results, though we are told that even the slightest attack so arouses the wontietful deience forces of tlie body that nover again can the yirus win a hold. A iew months ago there was an out» break of poliottiyelitiB in Alabama. Dr. Armstrong, of the United Publio Health Service, who has specialised in iighting the plague for 20 years, hurried to tile scene of ihe outbreak to apply the discovery ije aild l)r, Hani* son made a iittle over a year ago. They foiind that a soliition of pienc hcid squirted into a monkey's nose prevented the animal from contvacting paralysis. The germ enters the body through the nose, proceeding by the nefve funnihg from that organ to the brain» There, and i'rom there to the epinal cord it runs amok. The doctors cannot say yet whether the nasaj Spray of picnc acid and sodium alum, dissolved in mild ^alt water # kille the virus.as it enters, or whether it ieads the nasal membrane to put up a stiffer resistance, but they do know it wins. It did in Alabama. The United States Pilblic Health service sent the formula to the newspapers for publication. It reads as f ollows • Solutibn A.— Diasolve one grani of piorio acid in 100 cubic centimeters of pkysiologi cal aalt solution (0.85 per cent.). Warming facilitatea solution of picric acid. Solution B — Diasolve one grarn of sodiunia'luminium stilpliate (abdium alum) in 100 cubic centimetera of pliyaiological aalt solution (0.58 per cent.). Any turbidity in this solution skould be removed by filtering One or more timea tbrough the saine filterpaper. Mix solulions A and B in equal amuunts. The reeulting mixed solution, which contains 0.5 per cent. picrio acid and 0.5 per cbnt. alum, is Bufflciently antiseptic to prevent the giowth of organisms and is rettdy for U8e as a spray. Hotne-made concoctions are not favoured. •An ordinary nasal spray or even a perfume-atomizer can be used. The spray tip should be pointed upward and backward in each nostril, and the spnlying should be thorough enough to reacli the pharynx. A bitter taste is ihe signal. Persons sprayed will have yellow uoses for awhile.- — Yours, etc. j

Hastings, Feb. ll.