Evening star., 1938-01-25
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field.
Laboratory. and Study.
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BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

In medical laboratories all over the
world research workers slowly are putting
together the Jig-saw puzzle Of polio
myelitis, or infantile paralysis.
There remain, however, lot of pieces
which Go not seem to fit. This dreaded
malady and its twin terror, encephalitis
lethargica. still potentially are two of the
greatest threats to the security of human
life on earth.
They are in the class Of the phantom
killers Of newspaper headlines When
finally run down such fellows always
turn out to be quite stupid and color
less individuals. but they take the
police on nerve-racking chase before
they finally are finger printed and locked
up. That is the sort of chase upon
which the polio is now taking the medi-
cal detectives. There has been a glimpse
Of it here and a glimpse of it there,
never full-face view by a reliable wit
ness.
The malady is much in the public eye
this week due to the Nationwide cele-
brations of the Presidents birthday, the
proceeds of which are destined both for
the care Of its victims and further re-
search into its causes and behavior. One
against polio happens to be the labora-
tory of the United States Public Health
Service here in Washington, where two
taken place-the successful transmission
picric acid nose spray treatment as q
possible preventative.
Here is an approximate picture of the
{o}, - Lvao lad
the disease today.
Polio is caused by q filterable virus.
The specific organism Is almost the
tiniest of this whole family of the most
minute forms of life, which would COM
pare in size with the flea as the flea
would compare with the whale.
It attacks the motor nerve cells in the
spinal cord and in the medula oblongata
at the base of the brain. The virus is
so small that 1t can get inside the cells,
unlike bacteria which can attack them
only from the outside.
Apparently it is confined, practically
alone among diseases, to man and his
closest relatives among the apes and
monkeys. It will not attack, for example,
South American monkeys which are more
removed than their Old World cousins
from the human family tree. Claims
made . few years ago that the virus
could be transmitted to rabbits have
proven unjustified.
The virus gets into the system by way
Of the nose, and probably in no other
way. It follows the nerve Of smell into
the brain, and thence down the spinal
cord. This is the basis for one of the
most promising lines of attack. Expert
ments with monkeys In the Public Health
Service laboratories two years ago showed
that a very high degree of resistance
could be produced by spraying the mem
branes of the nose with something which
would congest them, or pucker them up
like alum. The most effective agent was
found to be picric acid. During the
epidemic last year the noses of thousands
Of children were sprayed in this fashion.
The results are inconclusive. One draw
back was that no standard procedure
was followed.
The disease will attack persons Of all
ages, but u most common In children.
There Is some basis for the belief that
nearly everybody has It In Q very mild
form at some time during life, and gen.
orally in childhood. There may be no
recognizable symptoms-perhaps . shght
heed1che ora rundown feeling for q