A DISCOVERY

Hokitika Guardian, 1 June 1932, Page 2

A DISCOVERY

GERM OF INFANTILE PARALYSIS. ISOLATION REPORTED.

LONDON, May 30. The germ that causes in'antile paralysis has at last been isolated, reports the New Orleans correspondent of the London ‘“Daily Mail.” As a result of this tremendous victory of medical science, investigators are now in. a position to pursue studies leading towards the, discovery of ah efficacious preventive vaccine. Isolation of the germ w*e««iinouneeci to the American Association for the Advancement of Science by Dr Fredcrick Kherson, assistant clinical professor c-f medicine at the University of California Medical School at San Francisco.

Not only was tlie dread germ isolated and observed under the microscope, but for the first time in tho history of research, successive generations of the germ have been cultivated outside of an animal organism, Dr. Eberson revealed.

The reason it .has been impossible to see the germ before is that during its most virulent stage, when it is inside the brain or spinal erd, its living body is invisible. It becomes visible, how. ever, a r ter several weeks of growth in a. culture medum.

Members of the medical profession in Britain, while somewhat sceptical at this stage, regard the discovery 0 f tile germ as a great step in the direction of combating the disease, because they feel that a suitable vaccine may be found to eliminate the cause of infantile paralysis, comments the “Daily Mail.”

Tt was not hitherto known definitely whether the disease was due to a germ or whither it was a virus disease, such as mumps, for in its effects it resembled diseases in both classes. “Tnlantile paralysis attacks the motor nerves—the interior horn cells of the spine—and renders its victims completoly helpless.” said a member of the medical staff at the Roval National Orthopaedic Hospital. “The discovery of the germ, if it can be substantiated, will mark a new era in the treatment of the disease, and we shall eagerly await further particulars.”