New-York tribune., 1916-07-14

cause nature has carefully protected
those sensitive organs from injurious
materials which may gain access 70
the blood, but il must be counter
acted by substances and in manner
that will not themselves inJurc those
sensitive parts. The ideal means to
accomplish this purpose is through
the employment of an immune serum
since serums are among the least IN
furious therapeutic agents. The only
drug which has shown any useful de-
gree of activity is ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
which is itself germicidal, and has
the merit Of entering the membranes.
as well as the substance OF the spinal
cord and brain in which the virus is
deposted. But experiments on mon
KEYS have shown this chemical to be
effective only very early in the course
of the incubation and only in part
of the animals treated. Efforts to
modify and improve this drug by
chemical means have up to the pres
ent time been only partially success
full. The experiments have not YET
reached the point where the new
drugs are applicable to the treatment
of human cases Of infantile paralysis
Practical Deductions ana Appilcdtlohs
/. The chief mode Of demonstrated
conveyance of the virus is through the
agency af human beings. Whether still
other modes of dissemination exist Is
unknown. According to our present
. knowledge, the virus leaves the body
in the secretions of the nose and
throat and in the discharges from the
intestines. The conveyers OF the virus
include persons i'll of infantile paraly-
sis in any of its several forms and
irrespective of whether they are para
lyzed or not, and such healthy persons
who may have become contaminated by
attendance on or association with the
, i'll. How numerous the latter class
may be is unknown. But all attendants
on or associates Of the sick are suspect.
These healthy carriers rarely them
selves fall i'll Of the disease; they may,
however, be the source Of infection in
others. On the other hand, the fact
that infantile paralysis is very rarely
communicated in general hospitals TO
other persons, whether doctors, nurses
or patients, indicates that its spread is
subject 70 ready control under restrict
ed and supervised sanitary conditions.
2. The chief means by which the
secretions of the nose and throat are
disseminated is through the act of
kissing, coughing or sneezing. Hence,
during the prevalence OF an epidemic
of infantile paralysis, care should be
exercised 10 restrict the distribution
as far as possible through these COM
mon means. Habits of sclf-denial,
care and cleanliness and consideration
for the. public welfare 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 readily become contaminated.
Through attentions on other children
or the preparation of food which may
be contaminated, the virus may thus be
conveyed from the sick to the healthy.
The conditions which obtain in a house
hold in which mother waits on the
sick child and attends the other chill
dren are directly contrasted with those
existing in a we'll ordered hospital; the
one is menace, the other a protec-
tion 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. Flies also often collect about the
nose and mouth of patients i'll of in
fantile paralysis and feed on the Sc
cretions, and they even gain access to
the discharges from the intestines in
homes unprotected by screens. This
fact relates to the domestic fly, which
becoming grossly contaminated with
/ the virus, may deposit it on the nose
and mouth Of healthy persons, or upon
food or eating utensils. To what ex-
tent the biting stable fly is to be in
criminated as carrier of infection is
doubtful; but we already know enough
to wish to exclude from the sick, and
hence from menacing the we'll, all OBJ
jectionable household insects.
Food exposed to sale may become
contaminated by flies or from fingers
which have been in contact with secre.
tions containing the virus; hence food
! should not be exposed in shops and nc