The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1917-01-13
STATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER
WARNS AGAINST CHILD PLAGUE
DR.. S. L. JEPSON SAYS OUTBREAK
AT ELkINS WAS OF A VERY
SERIOUS NATURE.
Declares Parents and Doctors Should
Exercise Caution In All Gases Of
Suspicious Character.

Wheeling, but for the past three
years state health commissioner, was
| in the city yesterday on business con-
nected with the state health depart
ment, and last evening made a short
address before the members of the
Ohio County Medical society on the
present outbreak of infantile paralysis
at Elkins, detailing the preventive
measures being taken by the state.
Dr-Jepson was at Morgantown last
week where he made a number OF ad-
dresses before the farmers agr1cul-
tura school, and in Fairmont yester-
day. where he inspected the condf
| lions surrounding case Of infantile
paralysis.
To an. Intelligencer reporter he said:
The outbreak of infantile paralysis
! in Elkins has been Of very serious
character, and in fact there have been
! many more cases than have been COM
monty reported. A number Of the
cases have been of mild nature,
abortive in character, and therefore
were not recognized as infantile par
alysis until the outbreak was well
started. However, these abortive cases
are often the most dangerous, as they
are Infection spots and from them
! others are likely to be infected before
the true character of the disease is
recognized. We have been making
earnest efforts to locate the method
! Of infection at Elkins, but have not
been satisfactorily successful on that
point. Dr. J. NJ. Werlich of the state
health department., and DR.. Leak Of
the United States health service, are
in charge Of the work at Elkins. Both
men are highly qualified. DR.. Weir
ich had considerable experience in
New York last summer with infantile
paralysis, and DR.. Leak is an author
! lty. In addition thereto, DR.. W. W.
! Golden and a number Of the local
physicians have done very excellent
work. look for the early suppression
of the outbreak at Elkins, because the
work of inspecting and quarantine is
now being carried on most effectively
! by skilled hands.
| Warns Against Outbreaks.
But I wish to warn the people of
medical fraternity Of the State at the
present time, against sporadic out
! breaks Of the disease elsewhere, and
, against the possibility of infection
from Elkins or other sources. A good
rule for parents and physicians to fol
low Is to suspect that any case Of child
sickness showing suspicious symp-
toms may possibly be a case Of infan-
tile paralysis, and to treat it as such,
or at least to regard 1t potentially as
such. until developments prove to be
to the contrary. Infanti1e paralysis
is perhaps the most destructive and
most mysterious disease that we have
with Us. About all that science has
been able to determine is that 1t may
I be carried by perfectly healthy per
sons from a sick person. and a child
may take it without having been near
another child who b suffering from 1t.
A remarkable fact about the Elkins
outbreak Is that number of the cases
have occurred In the families Of ply.
sic1ans, leading to the belief that pos.
sibly physicians themselves have been
innocent carriers OF the disease to
their own children. The New York
authorities, who had most to do with
fighting the disease last summer. be-
lieve that in a great many cases pa
rents, perfectly healthy themselves,
and free from disease, brought home
the disease to their own children. car
rying the infective germs from con-
! tact with some diseased person.
Without being an alarmist, l want
to impress upon physicians and pa
rents generally the necessity for eau
ton in all possible cases. Suspects
should be Immediately Quarantined and
isolated and every care taken to dis
infect and destroy possible germs Of
the disease rising from every known
case. In this connection wish to call
attention to an occurrence in another
town Of this State which seems to me
was ill-advised. A child in school on
Friday developed sickness on Saturday
which proved to be infantile paralysis
on Sunday. The authorities immedi-
ately closed the school. 1 believe a
| mistake was made in that case. It
would have been better if the school
had been kept open and the scholars
kept in attendance and under the con-
slant surveillance of0the teachers and
the medical authorities. The absence
then Of one child would have been
noted an dts sickness, If its sickness
caused absence, could have been i'm
medIately investigated and the cause
thereof ascertained. Closing the
school and scattering the children over
the town, where they could not be
constantly watched by responsible
people, was, in my judgment, more
likely to facilitate the spread Of the
disease than il the school had been
kept open
"Infantile paralysis is very de-
structive and very mysterious dis
ease. While the public should not take
unnecessary alarm on account Of the
situation at ElkinS or any other spor-
adic cases in the state, great deal of
caution ought to be- exercised by par
ents and physicians in all cases Of a
suspicious character"