The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-08-19

#infantile paralysis is the result of an
#attack by an organism or minute para
site on the contents of the spinal cord,
. into which 1t makes its way. The
spinal cord becomes filled with blood
and the sensory and motor cells, as
they are called, become disorganized
and broken. A healthy baby may be
turned into cripple over night by the
disease, which for long time baffied
the most expert skill in therapeutics.
DIR. Simon F1exner, head of the
Rockefeller institute, and the man
whose discoveries in connection with
national reputation, declares, reports
the New York Times, that, according
to all records, infantile paralysis
seems ito pick the strong and well
children in preference TO the weak.
L Vigorous health seems to be no pro-
I lection against the disease"
'eThe infectious agent enters the
body chiefly, If not exclusively, through
the mucous membranes of the nose
and throat" he says. "Poliomyelitfs,
or infantile paralysis, affects chiefly,
but not exclusively, young persons: it
may and not iufrequently does affect
adults and no age is absolutely free OF
danger of infection"
How Disease To- Contracted.
Doctor Flexner appeared before
meeting of physicians in Brooklyn and
explained to them how the disease
could be contracted.
xyfv. <.ff r,fan+ile. IvcfG CIV.
lists In the secretions of the nose and
throat and in the intestines," he said.
Hence the mode of spread may be
by kissing, coughing. and sneezing,
which carry the secretions of the nose
and throat from one person who may
be infected to other persons.
"Since the disease attacks by prefer
ence young children and infants whose
nasal and mouth secretions are wiped
away by mother or nurse, the fingers
of these persons readily become con-
taminated. The care of other children
by persons with contaminated fingers
may, therefore, lead to the conveying
of the infectious micrO-organism indi-
rectIy from the sick to the healthy.
This danger also exists In connection
with vendors of food which is eaten
uncooked. The existence of cases Of
infantile paralysis in the homes of ven-
doris of food is, therefore, a perpetual
source of danger. Dissemination can
be made by means of house flies.
AS to Treatment.
Treatment involves isolation of the
acutely i'll, proper care and destruction
of contaminated discharges, supervi-
sion of persons In contact with the i'll
and of all vendors of food, exclusion
of all flies, and general sanitary con-
troll Of the personnel and habitations of
families In which the disease exists.
mo age is absolutely free of danger
of infection, although infantile paraly
sis affects chiefly young persons. It
not infrequently affects adults. More
over, as indicated, the disease is one
that can be communicated by healthy
persons who have been in contact with
the sick, but who are themselves WELL"
Reports of clinical cases indicate
that the onset of the disease is likely
to be insidious. Parents paying little
heed to slight spasms in their children
are In due time shocked by the slow
whitening of limbs and the beginning of
a state which in many instances is in
distinguishable from physical helpless
ness. Then, when it is too late, the
question of contagion is raised. On
this last point, Doctor Flexner has
written:
OF Infectious Origin.
a
dernic poliomyelitis Is not new one, but
appeared in the literature of more than a
quarter of a century ago, and of late has
been frequently invoked. The clinical
course of the disease indicated an infec.
tious origin, but up to very recent times nc
convincing knowledge concerning the ma
ture OF the agent causing infantile para
lysis existed. The epidemic of 1907 in this
country, in France and in Germany led t.
q renewed study of the nature of the in
lection, in the course of which the more
subtle and recent methods of bacteriology
were employed.
These methods led almost simultaneous
ly, in the United States, by Doctor Levi:
and myself and in France, by Landstein
err and Levaditi to the discovery that the
infectious agent was extremely minuts
micro-organism that readily passed
through the pores Of earthenware filter.
and constituted, therefore, an example o
the so-called filterable viruses, of which a
the present time several examples ar
known to cause infectious diseases ii
man and the lower animals. The filterabl
nature OF the virus has now been con
firmed wherever the subject has been &C
curately investigated. On acquisition o
the fact of the nature of this virus. an
of the further fact, on which the discov
cry of the nature of the virus actuall
depends, that both the higher and lowe
monkeys are subject to the experiments
disease, rest the recent great advance
which have been made in the investigate
Of infantile paralysis
Proved by Experiments.
Experiments with monkeys cOnducI
ed with extreme care proved that in
fantile paralysis could be transmitte
from one patient to another. The d
sease. moreover, is caused by a mos
minute organism or germ, as the popt
lar phrase has come to be.
1T is, so far as we can now judg,
one of the most minute organism
known to cause disease" says Docto