The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-25
THE FARMER: JULY %, 1916

means to accomplish this purpose IS | through the employment of an inn l mune serum, since serums are among
 the least injurious therapeutic agents. The only drug which has shown any
 useful degree of activity is hexam- ethylenamin, which is itself germici- dal, and has the merit of entering the 1 membranes, as well as the substance of the spinal cord or brain in which the virus is deposited. But exper- | iments on monkeys have shown this chemical to be effective only very early in the course of the inoculation | and only in a part of the animals treated. Efforts to modify and inn prove this drug by chemical means
 have up to the present been only par
 tially successful. The experiments
 have not yet reached the point at | which the drugs are applicable to the treatment of human cases of infantlle paralysis.
 Practical Reductions and Applications l. The chief mode of demonstrated conveyance of the virus is through the agency of human beings. Wheth- CT or not still other modes of dissem- ination exist is unknown. According to our present knowledge, the virus leaves the body in the secretions of the nose and throat and in the dis charges from the intestines. The con- veyers of the virus include persons ill of infantile paralysis in any of its sew eral forms and irrespective of whether they are paralyzed or not, and such healthy persons who may have be- come contaminated by attendance on or association with the i'll. How nu- he lof o1o hn S known. But all attendants on or as- sociates of the sick are suspect. These healthy carriers rarely themselves fall i'll of the disease; they may. however. be the source of infection in others. On the other hand the fact that in fantile paralysis is very rarely conn municated in general hospitals to other persons, whether doctors, nurses or patients, indicates that it's spread is subject to ready control under re- stricted and supervised sanitary con- ditions.
 2. The chief means by which the se
 cretions of the nose and throat are disseminated Is through the act of kissing, splitting, coughing, or sneez- ing. Hence. during the prevalence of an epidemic of infantile paralysis, care should be exercised to restrict the distribution as far as possible through these common means. Habits of self-denial. care, and cleanliness and consideration for the public well fare can be made to go very far in
 limiting the dangers from these sources. Moreover, since the disease attacks by preference young children and in fants, in whom the secretions from the nose and mouth are wiped away by mother or nurse, the fingers of these persons req adily become contam- mated. Through attention on other children or the preparation of food which may be contaminated, the vii rus may thus be conveyed from the sick to the healthy. The conditions which obtain in household in which a mother waits on the sick child and attends the other children are directly contrasted with those existing in a we'll ordered hospital:s the one is a
 menace, the other protection to the community. Moreover, in homes the practice of carrying small children about and comforting them is the rule, through which not only the
 hands, but other parts of the body and the clothing of parents may become contaminated. 8. Files also often collect about the | nose and mouth of patients i'll of in- fantt1e paralysis and feed on the se- cretions. and they even gain access to the discharges from the intestines in
 homes unprotected by screen. This I fact relates to the doNestic fly, which.
 becoming grossly contaminated with | the virus, may deposit 1t on the nose
 and mouth of healthy persons. or on
 food or eating utensils To what ex-
 tent the biting stable fly Is to be in
 crin1inated as carrier of infection
 is doubtful; but we already know
 enough to wish to exclude from the
 sick, and hence from menacing the
 well. all objectionable household in-
 sects.
 Food exposed to sale may become
 contaminated by flies or from fingers
 which have been in contact with se-
 cretions containing the virus; hence
 food should not be exposed in shops.
 and no person in attendance on case
 of infantile paralysis should be per l mitted to handle food for sale to the general public.
 4. Protection to the public can best
 be secured through the discovery and Isolation of those i'll of the disease.
 and the sanitary control of those per
 sons who have associated with the
 sick and where business calls them
 away from home. Both these condt- tions can be secured without too great interference with the comforts and the rights of the individuals.
 In the first place. where homes are
 not suited to the care of the i'll so that
 other children in the same or adja-
 cent families are exposed. the parent l should consent to removal to hospital in the interest of other children. But this removal or care must include not only the frankly paralyzed cases but
 also the other forms of the disease.
 In the case of doubtful diagnosis. the aid of the laboratory is to be sought since even in the mildest cases
 changes will be detected in the cere-
 brospinal fluid removed by lumbar puncture. If the effort is to be made
 to control the disease by Isolation and segregation of the ill then these
 means must be made as inclusive as possible. It is obvious that in certain homes isolation can be carried out as effectively as in hospitals.
 But what has been said of the small incidence of cases of the disease
 among the hospital personnel. and
 those with whom they come into con. : tact, indicates the extent to which Il personal care of the body by adults