The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-08-21
INEANTlLE PARALYSIS.

The disease known in common par
lance as infantile paralysis, which has
| been prevalent of late in Mason City
and vicinity and elsewhere in Iowa, is
an affection In which loss of power in
! the voluntary muscles occurs sudden
/ ~ or in the course of few hours or
/ days. After few days the paraly-
/ sis leaves some of the parts origin
/ ally involved. but the others undergo
wasting and remain powerless. The
/ paralyzed muscles become atrophied
! and relaxed, and the shortening of
! their opponent muscles causes per-
/ manent deformities in the affected
limbs. The disease is not peculiar to
| children although large proportion
i OF the cases occur under five years OF
/ age, and in the infantile form there
are certain distinct features which
separate it somewhat from the adult
type.
As a rule, the patient, who has
been in good health, is seized with
i fever and vomiting and sometimes
/ diarrhoea. He is restless and fret
u
as If there were. backache and in
/ creased constituencies OF the surface
Of the body. After few hours, quite
/ often on the morning following the
/ beginning of the attack, the child is
found to be paralyzed In one or more
limbs. The fever and general dis
turbance last for three or four days
A few days after the subsistence OF the
fever and general soreness one or
more OF the paralyzed limbs begin TO
| improve. If both legs and arms have
been paralyzed at the onset the arms
are the first to recover. BY the end
| OF the second week one or both arms
can be used fairly we'll Then i'm
proyement begins in the legs. Some
of the muscles regain power, while
others remain stationary After the
fourth week the progress is slow, and
it can generally be determined by that
time which muscles are doomed to be
permanently paisied. Soon the par
| alyzed limbs begin to atrophy, the
muscles shrink, and the skin and the
cellular tissue Immediately under it
become adherent. The surface looks
blue and notified, and the temperature
is lowered The extent of the par
the muscles of both legs remain com
pletely powerless. In some cases only
certain groups of muscles in one or
both limbs remain paralyzed, and the
patient then soon begins to walk with
support.
The paralysis is caused by infiam-
nation of the anterior part of the
spinal cord, but it is not certain what
causes the Inflammation. 1t is be-
lieved, however, to be due to germ,
since the disease is clearly infectious
in character The season of the year
is conspicuous factor, as most OF
the cases occur during periods of high
temperature. OF $50 cases recorded
by one observer. there were 213, OF
1873 per cent, in the hot months of the
year,-that is. from May to Septem
Der. Almost invariably the cases OF
infantile palsy increase in number as
the temperature rises. In regard to
the infective agent, it is believed that
it does not enter the organism with
the food or drink, but with the ail
that is inspired. Those holding this
yiew-and they are largely in the ma
jority,-think it is transmitted through
dust. and that the dust gets it from
some of the secretlons of a human h
ing afflicted with the disease. PLY
sicians at Council Bluffs who have
been investigating the disease are 81
the opinion that the carrier of the in
lection is small flying insect known
, throughout the west as the buffalo
gnat. which makes its appearance dur
! ing June and disappears with the
coming of the first frost in the fall
: A dispatch from that city thus out
: lines their belief at some length:
THE physicians here state in Their
report that they will file with the
, Iowa state board of health that the
buffalo gnat has an equipment of ap
pendages corresponding almost identi
cally to those of the mosquito that
has been charged with and convicted
of carrying the germs of yellow fever
1t is a blood sucker and they say II
, is absolutely the only winged insect
that will resolutely crawl under the
covers of the couch OF it's sleeping vic
tim, or find the skin of person In
daylight by creeping under the cloth
ing. 1t is as persistent as 1t is vorac
ious, and 1t is almost impossible to
keep it out of the sleeping room.
Nature, the physicians here say
r has built the buffalo gnat on the plan
J Of the comma, so familiar in punctua
+ ton. 1t has hump on its shoulders
that it would seem would keep 1t out
of well screened apartment, but II
will easily force itself through wire
g meshes that are large enough to per
d NIT the insertion Of an ordinary pin
~ as there is a hollow under the HUMP
Of that permits of the contracting of the
n body when it is crowding itself
n through small hole.
70 The buffalo gnat, the physicians
=, ~ say, has the short antennae of hairs
~ characteristic of the yellow fever
at mosquito and when placed under 6
IN powerful lens, show a long, slender