INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 31, 6 February 1925, Page 4

INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

A French physician some years ago •xamined 100 persons taken nt. random xnd tested them for tuberculosis; To of hese xvero found to be carrying the nicTosoopie organism which is the "iroxed causo of the disease, yet none of heso examinees xvas consciously other Lhan fit and well, and were gathered in, »o to speak, from the street. In infantile paralysis (poliomyelitis) it is not only the actual sufferers who arc carriers of the disease, but probably many who have contracted (and resisted) infection. A fall, a shock, or undue exposure to sun heat, or sudden chill, provides a ''weakest place" to which the microscopic organism immediately dexotes its attention, and soon a toxin is secreted which produces paralysis. At least, the doctors hold it proved that a germ is the immediate causo of the disease, and it is an acceptable theory that these other factors create conditions favourable to its operations. If. then, we may take it that the main cause and the subsidiary causes in general are already known, what is wanted is the concentrated attention of skilled men upon methods of prevention and cure. That the disease is directly infectious appears beyond doubt. It is las in other infectious diseases) the resisting power of the blood of the infected person xvhioh determines xvhether he has a mild or severe attack or altogether escapes, is a "carrier" after a mild attack has made him immune, or a "carrier" immune without attack. There are noxv txvo doctors in Xew Zealand devoting their xvhole time to a study of the disease. The question is whether these arrangements for research are sufficient. It is a question not only of bacteriological research, but of patiently investigating the history of cases. What xvas a child doing before it. xvas stricken? What are all the circumstances surrounding the case? Winis it that so many apparently bealthv children are infected? Moreover, there should be examination of specimens from healthy ns xvcll as affected persons, so that facts about immunity and "carriers" may bo established, and possibly tho secret of immunity found. To say that, the disease is caused by a germ, and leave it at, that, carries "the community no distance. We hope, therefore, that the Health Department and Cabinet will give the most sympathetic consideration to the recommendation of the B.M.A. that a special grant be made for research.