Montana labor news., 1950-12-07
kissoua Woman
Returns from
Polio Conference

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The polio situation today is st
serious that unless people every,
where become aware OF IT, disaster
may threaten thousands OF patient.
next year, Mrs. Walterskirchen
state advisor on women's activities
OF the National Foundation Tor In.
iatile Paral, sis. declared this week
Returning from a national confer.
ence OF women leaders Of the March
OF Dimes organization in New York
City. Mrs. Walterskirchen, whose
home is in Missoula, reported tina,
she had learned the full story OF the
impact OF rising polio incidence or
the economy OF the only voluntar,
organization that offers assistance
for individual patient care IN a ma
tional scale.
Three consecutive years OF I'M
precedentcd polio epidemics in all
parts OF the nation have wiped out
epidemic aid funds" Mrs. Walter
skirchen reported.
I'VE shall have to collect S50,0O.-
0O in the March of Dimes next jan
uary to be able to continue care for
thousands Of patients whose uphill
struggle for rehabilitation must go
on in 1851, plus whatever new num-
bers OF patients the new year brings.
and to continue scientific research
and professional education
While progress in research is en-
couraging. there is no optimism with
regard to light" incidence of polio
in the immediate future, Mrs. Walt
crskirchen said. Reports from Basil
O'Connor, president OF the National
Foundation, DR.. Hart Z. Van Ripper.
its medical director, and four emf
nent scientists who spoke at the CON
ference, made it very clear that the
people OF all states must prepare now
for annual incidence OF at least 25,-
coo cases until a polio preventative
is found, she stated.
THE people of Montana must be-
come intnsely aware OF the serious
ness Of the situation" she continued.
All the good work that has been
done, both in hospital and scientific
laboratories. stands in danger of be-
ing curtailcd unless we provide the
necessary money to cope with a
much bigger problem in the years
ahead.
"The goal OF S50,0OO.00O set by Mr..
O'Connor means increased contri-
buttons in our state, as in others. 1t
also means earlier contributions, for
unless sizeable advance gifts are re-
ceived before the end of this year,
current hospital bills in many parts
OF the country cannot be paid. The
National Foundation has spent $780,
100000 for p~atien, care this year, and
will owe about S5,000,0O0 more at the
years end"
DR.. Van Ripper told the conference
that the whole pattern Of polio has
been changing recently, with more
widespread epidemics occurring in
many parts OF the nation rather than
intense, sporadic outbreaks in GER
tain localities. The age OF those al
fected also seems to be rising, he
said, SO that now at least Is per cent
Of the victims are over IS years of
age. And, in 1850, DR.. Van Ripper
pointed out, high polio incidence
continued far into the autumn, with
1000 new cases a week reported at
the beginning of November.
On the hopeful side, DIR. Robert l..
Bennett, director Of physical mcdi-
cine at the Georgia Warm Springs
Foundation, said that better diagno-
sis and treatment OF polio had cut
down distortions so that terrific
wrecks of children rarely are seen
today because the opportunity for
good treatment is available to all.
DR.. John Enders, chief research
director for infectious diseases at
the Children's Medical Center OF
Boston, in whose laboratory a polio
virus was grown for the first time
in test tubes using n%on-nervous It's
sue, said the most promising devel-
opment in polio research today was
the possibility OF a preventive vac
cine. Such a vaccine has been used
successfully on experimental ami
mails, but it remains to be discovered
Just how many types Of polio virus
there are; it must also be ascer-
tanned which people are not already
immune and thus need 10 be immun-
lied. He said he was optimistic that
the answer would be found in "the
long rum but felt it probably would
take a considerable length Of time.
DR.. Thomas Francis, Jr., profess
sor of epidemiology of the School
of Public Health, University of Mi
chigan, explained that for every di-
agnosed polio East there are perhaps
100 people who are infected without
knowing it and can pass on the dis
ease to susceptible persons by dircc'
personal contact. This is believed tt
be the chief manner Of spread o.
the disease. he said.
Dir. Stanley J. Sarnoff, assistan'
professor Of physiology, Harvard
University, explained the develop.
ment and use Of the electro-phreni'
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