Evening star., 1948-08-29

municable diseases, says this years
disease shows no geographical pat
tern in the District. The 1914,
1915 epidemic were heavy in South
east and Northeast with a few cases
Of Rock Greek. This year the disease
has shown up in that western part
of the city.
AS statistician he is dissatisfied
with the system that attributes to
the Washington area all cases
brought to Washington hospitals.
They come from as far as War;
renton and Hagerstown," he said
And if they occur in Laurel they
may be brought to hospital in
Washington or to a hospital in
Baltimore. 1 think the figures
should be based on what the Cen
sus Bureau terms metropolitan
Washington. That includes Alex
andria, Arlington and only parts
of Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince
Georges Counties"
Disease Is Rural One.
Although the summer resort people
thought the great 1916 epidemic
came out of NewYork and the Erie
County IN. " epidemic of 1914 was
blamed by the farm folk on the ar
rival of Italian berry pickers from
Buffalo, the disease has always been
predominately . rural one rather
than an urban one. Rural epidemics
usually effect three times the portion
of the population affected by a city
one.
Washington is one OF those fortu-
nate cities that never had had a bad
epidemic according to DR.. Dauers
charts. The great 1916 outbreak
made hardly any impression here.
Because the disease almost disap-
pears by the time. of the first frost
the public has always hoped that
an insect carrier would be found
and the whole terror ended-as
when Walter Reed confirmed Carlos
Finley's idea that yellow fever was
carried by insects. For long time
the finger was on the house fly. The
evidence seemed convincing when
peeled bananas on which flies had
frequently lighted in North Caro-
lima polio-stricken home were fed
to monkeys and the monkeys came
down with it.
But this summer and last by using
airplane sprays, whole villages nave
been wrapped in DOT fog so thick
that fly couldn't make it from
the garbage can to the kitchen door
and polio has shown up.
New Idea Outlined.
Parents want to be told to do
something when polio is in the COM
munity but unfortunately science
can't tell them what to do. There
is a growing body of opinion that
the source of the infection is the
human race itself-that it is the host
of the virus of polio, keeps it alive
from year to year, generation to
generation, for some unexplained
reason the virus occasionally attacks
the nervous systems of a consider
able number of its hosts causing
paralysis or death.
The idea is that most people be-
come immune as they grow older
because at one time or another they
have entertained the virus. The
seasonal element is thought to be
due to see failure in adjustment
to hot Weather after the cold of
winter. There is scarcely any polio
in the tropics.
The idea that those stricken with
paralysis are only a portion of those
who have the disease was born out
by a test made at Detroit insti-
tuition for children. 1t was hit by
polio and hit hard. 1t was decided
to give the diagnostic tests to all
inmates-adults and children. A
doctor, two nurses and seven chill
dren showed positive-and they
never came down with any notice.
able manifestation of the disease.
Sewage Tested.
Two Yale Medical School doctors
made test of New York sewage.
They isolated the invisible virus OF
polio. They knew they had 1t be-
cause they injected monkeys with
| 1t and the monkeys came down with
the disease The sewer served a
population of 100000 and in that
population only four cases of polio
were current.
The implications of this are pretty
gloomy. They sum up polio will al
ways be with the human race"
But no disease is getting more at
tention. There are medical statistic
clans like DR.. Dauer who think it
is overemphasized. He points out
that year in and year out whooping
cough kills more children. The
crippled victims of polio can play
but the children in whom "strep"
diseases such as scarlet fever have
been followed by rheumatic heart.
and there are many Of them. cannot
exercise They must fear heart fail
ure the rest Of their lives.