The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1942-10-24


discovery that sewage contained
the virus. In one city . sewer that
accommodated 100000 pers o n I
contained sufficient virus to infect
monkeys but only four known cases
6 polio had occurred in that re-
e1op. The virus must be very hard
to destroy, because with all the
ooapy water, acids and chemicals
- the sewage. germs still survived
Swat the Fly
Flies were proved to be the car
xlag1 n many places. In one boys
camp where several cases Of polio
devo)oped, dies caught around the
camp contained the virus. At this
camp e was found that some Of the
children. instead Of going to the
latr1nes. had gone to the bushes,
beck q the camp.
ylies caught Il din 3 on this
waste material produced polio In
@oQkeyS when duid prepared from
the killed dies was ntecte d.
Whistler the ~ carries It by biting
IT. victim or just carries It on his
1est and body has not been proved.
The presence Of the germ In
sewers and the ability Of flies to
carry the disease win explain its
oppoarance IN widely scattered re-
ojo0o and it, prevalence during the
) 0Enaner when dieo and swimming
.peolD are prominent.
Is appears now that improved
6HGlo0o and more careful control
q human discharges may even
'lolall1 conquer the disease. All
tGuG1eD IRE proving the correctness
q the intestinal and ny guilt. Yet
other insects may also be at fault.
tn CRY Of Swat the fly!" has
takon On new and greater meaning.
These findings Increase our
knowledge Of why the disease is
becoming more prevalent, and
promise some ways by which the
dread paralysis may be prevented.
together with means Of preventing
1t. All Of 1t changes the unfavorable
picture to something Of hopeful
ness.
Sister Kenny's Record
With al our Wanted science, it
remained for q woman nurse, Sister
Elizabeth Kenny Of Australia, to
teach us how to avoid many of the
dangers Of the paralysis which so
pften followed. Sister Kenny was q
nurse In the bush country Of Aus
4xolle. Tar away from doctors. hos
pitals and scientists, she was doc
toe. nurse. and health ofIlcer to q
vast region. About 80 years ago. she
wired Z physician Of Brisbane, de-
ocribtng some new sickness she had
encountered and asking what 1t
Wns - well Is directions as to what
s1ae could do. The doctor replied
that II was infantile paralysis.
there was no known remedy. and
~ 6hould do the best she could.
oo1ne time later. he met Miss
Kenny, and one of the first ques-
0ouS he asked was how many of
1Eor cases had died. Her answer was
H0ne. How many were paralyzed?
SNonel" The doctor was amazed
md unbelieving, but she proved 1t
n his own hospital. Doctors else
where had controlled the pain with
drugs Kept the limbs quiet, even
o1iug splints to prevent deformity.
Geter Kenny didn't know any
thing about this. She controlled
rain with hot lamentations, started
manage and movement as soon as
~ pain would allow.
e took 80 years to convince the
MEDICAL profession that she was
INT. She = now In this country
teaching and demonstrating her
Nnotlaods. She Is curing and pre-
venting paralysis In 80 per cent Of
~ Cases. She Is at the moment In
0te1o Rock. Arkansas, putting her
lnothod IA practice In an epidemic