The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-01-19
DO PLEAS SPREAD
 INFANT PARALYSIS
Wesleyan Bacteriologist Makes
 Interesting Report
Studied Epedimics, Meriden, Middletown = Can't Blame Spread of Disease on Milk, or Water. or Fruit

Middietown. Jan. 1eProfessor Her bert ". Conn. State bacteriologist, head of wesleyan's biological depart rnent. has completed his investigations of the epidemic of infantile' paralysis which swept Middlesex county a short time ago. Professor Conn's report sa1as been prepared for the State Board of Health. and is summarized as fol- lows:
 ~Afthou<h Merfden and Middletown are within ten miles of each other, they were visited by two independent one in Meriden occurring in July and August. while that of Middletown was in September and October.
 According to the present outlook, it seems that not more than 10 per cent of the cases will be seriously to be rendered incapable of making a Livelihood. the other 90 per cent. being likely to make a fair recovery.
 "A special attempt was made in this snvestiRation to trace any facts that might lead to an understanding of the method of distribution. The most mo- tioeabie result of the inquiries has T been that in these two epidemics there is no trace whatsoever of contagion. There has been only one instance where one p6IiGnI 0dQ S6Cn d SCconu patient before the attack, in this case the two attended the same High School. There is just as much like lihood, however. that these acquired the disease independently as it was that one acquired it from the other. possibility of believing that contagion played any part in the distribution !, of the disease, since in neither of the epidenics. in Middletown and Merf- den, have there been secondary cases. A very few instances of abortive these have not been abundant enough to make it probable that they have played any part in the distribution of the disease. The chief teaching tagion has not been the method by which the disease has been here dis
 The disease has not been distrib- yfed by water as is proved by the fact that the patients have obtained water from a very large number of sources, including many private wells as we'll as the public water supply. It is not distributed by milk as prov e6 by the fact that hardly two of the Seventy-four cases have taken milk from the same mflkmln or have ob- tained it from the same source, and that two at least have had milk only from their mothers breast. That it is not distributed by any particular kind of food i3 shown by the fact that there Is no item of diet that has been used commonly by them all. The nearest to a common food is fruit, but there are a number of cases where no fruit has been eaten at all, and, moreover, although fruit has been eaten in many cases, it was fre- quently obtained from private fruit trees and net from the public market.
 "Of known methods of distribution of infectious diseases, there remain only dust and insects. The cases fre- uuently are very far apart, some of them being miles from any other case It is hardly conceivable that if the dust of horses, as has been sug- gested is a means of the distribution of the disease, this particular loca- ton of cases could be found.
 "On the other hand the Idea that the disease may be distributed by the bite of insects. seems to fell most closely in accordance with the facts that were disclosed in our two epi- demics- If the disease is distributed by insects, 1t will be natural to sup nose that it will be some sucking in- sect, and we should think either of the mosquito or the flea or the blood sucking fly In our studies it has been impossible to get any trace Of the presence of the blood sucking flies in the localities where the disease has occurred Mosquitoes have been found common in the whole district, and apparently all of the patients ad beea b3tten by them. It has besn