The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-07-29
UNCLE sam TELLS
Of PARALYSIS
Health Department Issues Study
Of InfantiIo Disease.
WHAT THE EXPERTS LEARN

1850
Physician Who Is Considered Best
Authority In the country-Disease Is
Widespread, and E%pidemies Are
Likely to Occur at Any Place.
Authoritative summary of what the
United States has been able to learn
about the cause and transmission OF
poliomyelitis Qnfantile paralysis) was
given out by the treasury department,
under which the public health service
operates.
This "study" of the disease, publish
ed at this time because of b extern
sive epidemic in New York, has been
prepared by Wade H. Frost, past as
sistant surgeon of the public health
service, who is considered the best au-
thority on the disease in this country
and who has been sent to New York to
take charge of the federal hngeau ac-
t~ivities. 1t represents many years of
personal observation in several cpl
denies and an extensive review of all
literature obtainable upon the subject.
1t gives the last word, as the federal
health authorities get 1t, about this dis
ease. A summary on these findings is
given as follows:
"Reviewing briefly the data and con-
siderations which have beer discussed,
~poliomyelitis is due to a specific infec-
tive agent, of which the only demon
strated natural sources are infected
human beings, who may be divided
into the following groups: The recog-
nized sick, convalescents, the sick not
recognizable as poliomyelitis cases and
passive virus carriers apparently in
good health.
1.-THE infective agent is known to be
discharged from these sources In the
eXcretions of the respiratory and di-
gestive tracts. 1t is known to be fairly
resistant to the destructive agencies
encountered in nature outside Of the
human body. Perhaps the most sig
niicant fact in regard to the expert
mental transmission of ~poliomyelitis to
monkeys is that they may be infected
by rubbing the virus on the nasal mu-
cous membrane. Infection through
the digestive tract or through the
agency of biting insects has been found
more difficult and less constant.
1.-THE disease is in nature of wide
spread though rare sporadic or endemic
occurrence. In epidemics it has occur
red In recent years over a large part Of
the world, the outbreak being some
times discreet, at other times spreading
rapidly but ~irregularly over wide areas.
Run a Rapid Course.
"Such epidemics Enthusiastically run
a rather rapid course in a given COM
munity, declining after a few months
or less after having attacked so far as
is evident only a small proportion of
the total inhabitants, usually not more
than one in a thousand, and do not re-
cur in the same locality for a period of
at least two years. In epidemic foci
children under five are attacked much
more often than are older persons, the
whole adult population remaining vir-
tually immune In some epidemics.
THE rapid spread of epidemics over
wide areas, their spontaneous decline
after only a small proportion of the in
habitants have been attacked and above
all the preponderating incidence in
young children have not been satisfac-
torily explained by any hypothesis 9th
er than that the infective agent during
epidemics is widespread, reaching a
large proportion of the population, but
only occasionally finding a susceptible
individual, usually a young person., in
whom 1t produces characteristic NOR
bid effects. Assuming this rare suscep-
tibility, the well established facts col
lected by epidemiologic studies are COM
patible with the evidence of laboratory
experiments that the disease is directly
transmissible from person to person.
A to what constitutes susceptibility
or the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
nothing can be deduced except that age
is obviously a factor of Importance,
susceptibility being generally greatest
in the first half decade of life, there
after progressively diminishing until in
adult life there is a very general i'm
mun1ty to natural infection. The rea-
son for this is at present a matter Of
speculation. C~onceivably the greater
immunity of adults may be due to a
nonspecific resistance, developing nat
urally with maturity without reference
to previous exposure to or infection
with the specific virus of poliomyelitis.
On the other hand, there are certain
facts which suggest that the very gen
eral immunity of adults may be spe-
cific, acquired from previous unrecog-
nized Infection"