Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-01
I DEATH, 3 NEW CASES
OF PARALYSIS IN VICINITY
CONTINUED frcm rnre On.

Continued from PsEe One
The Floan child lives in the Fifteenth
Ward He is the third case there. Sew
eral cases other than that Of the Avicola
baby have been reported also from the
Third Ward The Pones case is the first
to appear in the Thirty-thlrd Ward.
Eight children in Philadelphia have died
from the disease Yesterday there were two
deaths and two cases reported at City Hall.
State Health Commissioner Dixon, who
was in the city today, said he did not con-
slider the situation at all alarming. There
we're some places like Bristol, he said. that
needed cleaning up badly. Doctor Dixon
said Bristol has six cases Of the plague, and
he considered them as all being due to a
filthy condition of part OF that town. Or
ders have gone to Bristol to clean up at
once.
In Pennsylvania there are 90 cases now,
Doctor Dixon said OF these, as are in
Philadelphia. He said every precaution was
being taken, and he didn't seem at all wor-
ried.
The Main Line and Reading sections are
exceptionally free from infantile paralysis,
Mr.. Dixon said. Cynwyd has one case and
one suspected case, and there was a death
on the Main Line yesterday.
Dr. A. A. Cairns, chief medical inspector,
announced that the reason he was not Civ
ing out names Of suspected cases was be-
cause II he did that he feared physicians
wouldn't report those cases. After the
health department. is satisfied that sus-
peoted case is actually one Of infantile
paralysis, then the name is announced.
That was why he wouldn't give the name
in the case reported at 425 Lombard street.
Leading physicians in this city see be-
fore the medical profession, In the infantile
paralysis epidemic, double or even triple
duty. That duty is not merely to prevent
the spread of the disease and the death
of those stricken. II is 30 to care for
the victims that they will not have to go
through life horribly crippled. This, they
say, is possible, provided proper treatment
is given Immediately following the diagnosis
of the malady
Physicians here agree that only very
small per cent OF the victims OF anterior
pollomyelitis need be crippled II treated
promptly and properly. The death rate
from the disease not high when compared
with other diseases, but It is the after
effects which make IL dreaded by parents.
The Philadelphia physicians are not maxi
ing light OF the disease. They realize that
under conditions which exist at present Its
effects are horrible. Their point merely
is that II Il were not for neglect and ig-
norance-sometimes ignorance on the part
of members of their own profession--this
need not be so.
Orthopedic care. under the direction Of
specialists is the thing urged by physicians
Some of them say that the average gem
eral practitioner no matter how able. ls
unless handled properly, leaves the child
to go through life hopelessly deformed.
One OF the important things Is to bandage
the deformed limbs of the infantile paraly-
sis victim so that distortion can be pre-
vented, so that the paralyzed muscles do not
pull on the other ones. Massage is another
important aid, for this keeps up the crcu-
latlon, bringing the blood supply to the
parts affected.
Protective treatment must be given ut
once to the child affected. Paralysis re-
suits within three or four days after the
inception OF the disease, and when this
stage is reached the child is likely to be
permanently deformed.
Physicians say that the disease is an In
flammation in the front part of the spinal
cord, known aB the anterior horn. It Is
here that the motor nerves are centered,
and muscular activity, which controls the
movements OF the body. depends on the
proper flnctioning OF these nerves.
Only some of the muscle controlling
nerves are put out of commission by the
disease. These stop work, but other mus
cles continue to pull, and without resist
ance, thus pulling the limb out of shape
It Is this which must be prevented II
permanent deformity is to be avoided.