Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY. MAY 27, 1919. LETHARGIC ENCEPHALITIS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1982, 27 May 1919, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY. MAY 27, 1919. LETHARGIC ENCEPHALITIS.

THE idcntilication of lethargic en(•(•1)11:1 lilis, cases of which have occurred in Auckland, was made as a result of investigations conducted hy the Medical Jiesearch Committee of the British Local Government Board. The inquiry was commenced during {lie. epidemic last year, the first; suggestion being that the disease' was botulism, due to infection from food. The first step towards elucidation of the mystery was registered when Dr. Mclntosh, of the London Hospital, announced that he had failed to find the bacillus botulinus eilher in the bodies of the victims of the disease or in (he specimens of foodstuffs submitted to him. His opinion that the disease was due to a germ and not to foodpoisoning was eonlirmed when Drs. Hancock and Hearse showed that there was no instance of more than one case occurring in a household, thaf many of the patients hud eaten no suspicious food, and that almost invariably the food eaten had been shared by others who did not develop the disease. Indeed, in two cases infants exclusively breast-fed were attacked. It was now suggested that the disease was very closely akin to infantile paralysis. This view had the support of Sir William Osier, but other authorities, notably Professor Netter in France and Dr. von Economy in Austria —where the disease had also broken out —refus-t ed to accept it, and regarded the condition as q new disease. Expert-

meats were earned out to test the point, and, as a result of these, both Ur. ■Mclntosh and Professor Marinesco, of Bucharest, the wellknown neurologist, whose services were secured, arrived independently at the conclusion that the new disease, encephalitis lelhargica, was identical with a disease described in Prance and Austria, and differed from infantile paralysis and all other conditions. Dr. James, conducting an epidemiological inquiry, .arrived at the same conclusion. No germ has yet been found. But now the medical authorities are on the alert, and will know what they are dealing with if other eases crop up. Sir Arthur Newsholme has taken the step of making (he disease compulsorily notifiable for one year throughout England and Wales. He will Urns be early advised of any recurrence.