The Washington herald., 1913-07-27
FLY CAUSES infant PARALYSIS

try than in the city was a striking one
| Diseases that spread directly from per-
son to person are almost always most
| prevalent where persons congregate, 50
that the opportunity for contagion are
most frequent: while insect-borne dis
eases are often most serious in the coun-
/ try where insect-breeding places are
| more freCuent.
| These facts led the Massachusetts, in
vestigators to search with special care
| for connection with some insect host
! and the prevalence OF infantile paralysis,
and in 1910 DR.. p. A E Sheppard. work.
! ing for the State health department,
noted the large number Of cases in which
| fly bites were reported by the victims
| of the disease.
I'm the next year Mr. c T Brues. an
| entomologist. was assigned to work with
DIR. Sheppard. and suspicion began to
point strongly toward a particular in
sect, the biting stable fly. Finally, in
the summer of lSl2, Prof. VI. j. Rose
nau of the Harvard medical school COM
pleted the chain OF proof No one who
vas present at the joint ression of Sec
tions ] and of the Fifteenth Interna-
tional Congress of Hygiene and Demos-
raphy on September as last will forget
that most striking event Of the whole
congress, the presentation of these re-
suits
Eminent investigators from Norway,
Sweden and Austria, as well as some OF
the leading workers in this country. had
presented the formal papers Of the
morning. Much that was important was
adoed- but the weight of evidence still
seerfed to point. though somewhat doubt
fully. toward human contact as the chief
agent in the Transmission of the disease
In the discussion that followed DR.. Rose
nau made preliminary report of his
experiments and announced that he had
succeeded in producing poliomyelitis in
SIX out OF twelve monkeys bitten by stabus
fiies ,StomoNys calcitransi which had
been allowed To feed on other monEays
suffering from the disease. As a result
OF his discovery the entire outlook for
the control Of infant paralysis has been
changed.
Rosenau's Work Confirmed.
Prof Rosenau's work has since beer
contirmel by Drs. Anderson and Fros,
OF the United States public health sur-
vice. There is. OF course, mo- certaiptv
that tie disease is always transmitted
| by stomoxys. The work of DIR. F'lexner
and of the Swedish observers and tbe
occurrence OF certain proportion of
cases in cold weather strongly suggest
that sometimes infant paralysis may be
spread by direct contact between human
oeings or in other ways than BY fiy
oites On the other hand. It seems GER
tain the biting stable fly is one means
oy which the disease Is conveyed: and
tne seasonal and geographical preva-
renee and the epidemics makes IL seem
PROBABLE that this is the usual and most
important means.
Inc habits of stomoxys, or stable fly.
diner widely from those of musca do
mestics. or house fly. The stornoxys il
biting fly. feeding on the blood-of the
higher vertebrates II is found in the
vicinity of dwellings. particuil rly where
horses and cattle are kept. but il is am
to remain out doors in warm. sunny
places. and does not come into the house
much except at night and before rain.
According to Brues. it breeds in fer
mentlng heaps of grass. straw and SINH
lar substances. horse manure. COW dung
and even garbage and its preference is
probably In about the order named" .
Many devices used for trapping the
house fly and depending on its liking for
sweets will, of course, prove of no avail
with the stable fly. For the control of
this insect, dependence must probably
be placed o':iefy upon elimination of its
breeding places. There can be no doubt
that the recognition of the Importance
OF this insect In the transmission Of
infant paralysis, which We owe to such
a striking cooperation between cpl.
demiologists. entomofogists. and -experi.
mental Psychologists, opens a new chap.
ter In our campaign against this dis
ease: and the summer of 1918 should throw
q flood Of light upon the subject"