Evening star., 1922-06-17

fnfantile paralysis. as the name
implies. Is for the most part disease
Of early childhood, about Is per cant
OF the cases occurring In children
under five years of age, though older
children and even adults are not In
frequently attacked. Twenty years
ago. though it had long been known
to physicians as a rare disease. It
was of such infrequent occurrence
that it was quite unknown to the
general public, but within that time,
and especially since 1905. it has been
occurring In epidemics of constantly
increasing frequency and extsnt until
the epidemic of 1915. which swept
New York city, New England and
the Middle Atlantic states, resulting
in a total of not less than $4,000
cases.
Even this number of cases. how
ever, IL small compared with the
cases of measles, scarlet fever and
diphtheria which occur each year, and
infantile paralysis is still one of the
less common infectious diseases. In
the last ten years 1t has caused less
than onefourth as many deaths as
has measles in this country. Since
the epidemic of 1916 the disease has
been, on the whole, somewhat less
prevalent than in the years from 1910
TO 1915, and. though some thousands
OF cases still occur in the United
states every year. with the probabil-
ity that further epidemics will oc-
cur. it may at least be hoped that the
1915 epidemic marked the crest of
the pandemic wave which had been
rising for more than twenty years.
Symptoms of Paralysis.
What gives the disease q peculiar
Importance, out of all proportion to
its frequency of occurrence and NOR
tallty, is the paralysis. which results
from Inflammation of the spinal cord
and may cripple its victims for years
or even for life. The first symptoms
are usually fever, some digestive dis
turbance. pains in the back and limbs,
and sometimes unusual nervous symp-
restlesSnesS; and it is now recognized
that many cases have only these
symptoms, recovering with no evil
dence of paralysis.
In the more severe cases paralysis
develops within a few days: it may
be complete or partial. affecting only
few muscles or disa bling all the ex-
trsmities. AS the acute symptoms
subside the primary paralysis tends
to become less extensive, and GER
tain proportion of cases progress to
complete recovery within a few weeks
Improvement stops short of recovery,
leaving more or less extensive
paralysis. which may disappear with
a year or more of careful treatment
or may be permanent. depending upon
the extent of damage to the spinal
cord.
Cause of Disease.
The cause of the disease is minute
germ which FleXner and Noguchi of
the Rockefeller Institute for Medical
Research finally succeeded in isolat-
ing after years of patient work. This
germ is so small that it passes readily
through the pores of dense porce-
lain filter, which holds back ordinary
bacteria. In this way, by filtering
the washings from the nose and
throat, the germs of infantile paraly-
sis may be separated from the other
ba cteria present in these secrettons
and may be demonstrated by inocuiat-
ing the filtrate into monkeys. which
are readily susceptible to expert
mental infection.
Experiments of this kind have shown
that the germ Is present in the nose
and throat of children in the acute
stage of the disease; and, what is Of
great Importance, that it is present