HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 January 1942, Page 5

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

INFANTILE PARALYSIS. PRECAUTIONS TO OBSERVE. (By the Health Department). It pays to be suspicious sometimes. There’s always ■ a long chance that things are not what they seem. Infantile paralysis, or poliomyelitis, as it is known, is like that. The symptoms of infantile paralysis are in almost every respect similar to the syymptoms of any other infectious childhood disease. Consequently, to be on the safe side, parents should treat sick children having fever, headache, vomiting, drowsiness and irritability, as suspects until they get a proven diagnosis. Infantile paralysis is an insidious disease which may leave terrible after effects. But early diagnosis and early treatment do much to alleviate the severity of an attack. It is therefore essential to get your doctor without the slightest possible delay if the onset of infantile paralysis, is suspected. Treat it as a matter of extreme urgency. Doctors themselves admit that because of the common nature of the symptoms, this disease is difficult to detect, and usually only in the presence of epidemic conditions can an immediate diagnosis be made at the onset of the first symptoms. One feature which is definitely significent is a stiffness of the spine and neck. Sometimes the early symptoms may be very mild, and yet, within 24 to 72 hours, the child may be unable to move an arm or a leg. The legs are more affected by paralysis than any other region, and arm paralysis follows next in frequency.

Infantile paralysis is still something of a mystery disease, but it is thought to be caused by a virus which is spread by direct or indirect contact. It is more common in the hot weather —the summer and early autumn —so that, from now on, keep an eye on the young folk—and adults, too. The best safeguard is ordinary healthy living and personal cleanliness. If there happens to be an epidemic or undue prevalence of it, keep away from crowds and from infected homes.