Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-28
DOCTORS TO REPORT
|nfantiIe Paralysis Regulation
to Be Promulgated.
RUDOLPH DECIDES TO ACT
Takes Chances in Emergency for
Which Law Does Not Provide.

Regardless Of differences of opinion as
to whether infantile paralysis is a con-
tagion or an infectious disease. Commits
sioner Rudolph put an end to all argu-
ment on the subject this morning. when
he directed the corporation counsel to
prepare q regulation which will force
every doctor to report to the health of
flee every case Of this mysterious and
perplexing scourge. and which will be
framed to control the entire situation.
Emile Berliner's Plea.
Commissioner Rudolph's action follows
sharp plea from Emile Berliner, in
which he says:
This Is an emergency. Unless prompt
action is taken by you the result may be
terrible for Washington's children.
Il am sure you can find some statute
which gives you power to act If the
health officer Is powerless, as he says he
is, there is no reason why you, as guar
dian of the people. should be.
May l prevail on you to take prompt
action? 1nfantile paralysis is one Of the
worst known diseases, has a mortality
record of Is to ii per cent and leaves
the patient a permanent cripple.
1T Is admitted to be contagious. You
should order all cases to be reported and
the houses placarded, as in the case of
scarlet fever and diphtheria, which are
less serious in results"
Not Provided for in Emergency Law.
Corporation Counsel Thomas says
that inasmuch as Congress has specif-
ically outlined what are contagious dis
eases infantile paralysis cannot be
squeezed in among them. But he says If
any great emergency exists 1T might
be we'll to test the authority Of the
Commissioners to pass appropriate reg
ulations."
DR. Woodward health officer, who has
held all along that the disease is con-
tagious. or at least communicable, went
into the matter at length, so that the
official view Of the disease is now on
record at the District building.
THE exact times when communicable
ity begins and when it ends are not
known says the health officer, but it
seems likely that the disease Is communi-
cable before the onset of paralytic symp-
toms. AS the disease is practically never
recognized before the onset of such
symptoms, preventive measures cannot
be enforced in the management Of a
case prior to their onset. and therefore
no regulation would successfully prevent
the spread of the disease during that
period.
Period of Infectivity.
1T is generally believed by those who
have most carefully considered the sub
ject that infectivity continues at least
as long as there Is any elevation Of
temperature, but how much longer Is not
known. If, therefore, quarantine were
established by regulation, there would be
at the present time no sound basis for
the determination Of the time when quar-
antine should be raised.
1T seems probable, too, that the dis
ease may be spread in some instances by
atypical cases of the disease which are
never recognized These. Of course, are
beyond the reach Of regulation.
Moreover. the existence Of anterior
carriers. persons who bear
the same relation to the spread of infan-
tile paralysis that typhoid carriers bear
to the spread of typhoid fever. seems
probable. These, too, until further infor-
nation is obtained concerning them, must
be beyond the reach Of regulation.
Finally, a regulation requiring those
responsible for the care Of the patient to
disinfect the discharges from the mouth
and nose, which are now looked uron as
essential features OF the isolation of such
cases, would be practically insusceptible
of enforcement, unless inspectors of the
health department were able to exercise
close personal supervision over the sick
room, which they arc. Of course, unable
to do"