The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1942-10-23

SCIENTISTS. bu
they have per
"a sisted and VI
II are inclined t,
Es think they ar
finally accom-
n. CuRUllAN plishing some
thing.
Most laboratory workers hav,
felt that the disease entered tn,
4 body through the nose and Travelled
up the nerve trunks to the spina
cord: then destroyed the nerve
Y 1bers In the cord which controlled
i the movement Of muscles. This re-
suited In no messages sent to Ger.
tain muscles did not contract
and Gpelly dried up for lack Of use
We cGn this paralysis. Often tht
virus could not be found in thu
nasal DISCHARGES, and we were BAT.
4 He'd again. The disease Is most
prevalent In summer when colds
0So les frequent.
SWedish Research
Many research experts believed
there were other ways in which the
disease could enter the body. Final
II sc was found that bodily dis
charges contained the causative
virus. Some Swedish researchers
found the virus In the excretions Of
patients In 1912. but did not follow
up. Funds from the National Foun-
dation for the Study Of Infantile
Paralysis. collected by the Presi-
dents Birthday Balls. have been
used In this search.
IN 1887, DR.. p. H. Harmon, of the
University Of Chicago, found the
virus In the stools Of polio victims.
/, Workers were able finally to sepa-
rate the virus from other bacteria
and thus secure q pure culture
/. which carried nothing but polio
nayelitis. It has long been believed
, that many children were attacked
~ polio, but suffered no more dis
comfort than headache and cold
tnsthe head.
IN examining excretions Of school
children. they found the virus,
though the child under observation
Was not paralyzed. They also found
that the virus persisted In the dis
charges Of recovered patients for
weeks and months. Thus these pa
tients became carriers even though
ven. just as typhoid carriers car
RED typhoid. This explained its
spread. but not how 1t got into the
body. More and more. the investi-
gators pursued the occurrence OF the
disease. wherever polio was discov-
cred, scientists hurried to see what
could be found.
In 1887. an epidemic started In
Charleston, 8. c. Search was made
q the sewers In the neighborhood.
0oUne Of this sewage was taken to
The laboratory and freed from other
bacteria. Some Of the duid was In.
5octed into rhesus monkeys. who
oxe susceptible to polio. The results
vere anxiously awaited. In about
70 days, one Of the monkeys became
dek. He had polio. Samples from
ether infected areas were tried
With resulting paralysis In the legs
SG the subjects.
Biting Flies Guilty
Then search was made to find
ooW the disease was carried from
tho excretions Of IN infected case
% the child. Flies were suspected.
Dome biting stable dies were placed
n . care with Q monkey suffering
from polio. Then the monkey was
removed and . well monkey re-
placed him IN the cage with the
HI. In about ten days this monkey
became sick and paralyxed.
They no longer doubted that the
0los carried tho infection In these
cooes. Then flies were captured In
other districts where they had .
chance 70 feed on infected waste.
These were ground to powder, and
IL 0uid mass prepared for injec-
t1on into monkeys. Some Of the
0o0keys died. The virus was found
~ the Q Q " &c from an ultra
nn16orn apartment house, where
tEi1go were three polio victims. A
III 0ieo were caught and tested.
o1m1n With positive results: also In
- oeWaGo ct the outlet on one
- tho Great Lakes, the deadly
tn W. Isolated again.
- 1ie0 carry polio! Just how. BY
M @ "a their bodies, Is not yet
peovod. We know now that polio
~ enter through the nose or
unQgth. or b. dy bite. Once more.
~ investigators are on the track
= tho solution Of q very great
y1Ueesy-and menace.
-