Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1949-06-30

lCll liilduIllc paIdly SIS SIIlhcS
anywhere in the United States,
doctors and scientists move in at
once to track down sources of
infection and protect the commun-
ity. These polio detectives have
discovered important facts about
the transmission of the virus by
flies, human contact, and faulty
plumbing, says Alan Hynd, Writ
ing in Redbook Magazine for July,
he gives five precautions that you
and your family can take against
this dread disease:
"The National Foundation for
Infantile Paralysis, which finan-
ces the investigations of epidemi-
ologists, or polio detectives, has
scientific grounds for warning
mothers each year at this time to
see that their childen do not get
chilled or fatigued. Bodily de-
lenses against any disease are
lowered by exhaustion; thus a
rested body, or a body whose
functions are not disturbed by the
shock inherent in chilling, could
very well be the difference be-
tween a severe and mild attack
of polio, or mild attack and no
attack at all.
"The greatest undertaking now
is nationwide laboratory quest,
financed by the March of Dimes,
for poliomyelitis vaccine = adj
mittedly several years away at
the very nearest. In the meantime
our main hope centers around
treatment and the smashing of the
chains of transmission by which
the virus spreads.
"The common house fly does not
seem to be such a frequent car
rier of the polio virus as the green
bottle fly or the blue bottle fly.
Whether a fly brings the virus
into locality and starts an cpl
demic, OF whether it contacts the
virus during an epidemic has long
baffled polio sleuths. Also unan-
swerable so far is the question of
whether the fly accounts for an
appreciable amount of polio trans
mission.
"The fly is apparently the only
inhabitant of the insect world that
carries the polio virus. This is
probably due to its habit of feed
ing off human waste matter, which
in itself is known to be the great
est source Of habitation of che
polio virus aside from the human
body itself.
"Epidemiologists have proved
that faculty plumbing can be a
dangerous link in the chain of
virus transmission. Milk has never
been found to contain polio virus
secreted by a COW, but single
patches can be infected otherwise.
Polio detectives are thought to
miss the evidence because the dis
ease is not reported for three days
to thirty-five days after it appears;
it takes that long for the virus
to fell a victim after entering the
system. The virus itself is known
to be highly susceptible to tenn
perature changes and other fac
tors when it is not inhabiting a
living cell. Thus 1t is possible that
on one day it may be virulent in
a food or drink supply, or in dust
or the air, and be completely abb
sent the next.
The greatest family tragedy in
the history Of poliomyelitis struck
in a home in Akron, Ohio, in
August, 1941. Within the space Of
twenty-four hours, five of the six
came down with bulbar
polio, the most dreaded form OF
the disease. Forty-eight hours
later, three Of them were dead,
and two hopelessly crippled. Only
the youngest, a two-and-a-half
year old boy, escaped the ravages
of the disease.
Apparently two Of the chill
dren had picked up the polio virus
while visiting a cousin. Eleven
days before they we're stricken,
the children had had their tonsils
removed--aIl except the child who