INFANTILE PARALYSIS AND SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1937, Page 6

INFANTILE PARALYSIS AND SCHOOLS.

As a parent I beg to protest against 'the postponement of the date of reopening of the schools—due to the scare of infantile paralysis —for three reasons. (1) 'Since this disease first made its appearancc 30 years ago the medical profession has been, and still is, ignorant of its true cause, prevention, care and diagnosis. Xo definite proof is available that the disease is either contagious or x infectious. (2) All the available data seeip to point to the fact that the disease is a soil deficiency disease, which is only prevalent in those countries, districts, homes and families where "soil malnutrition." or ill-treatment, is practised. The disease is unknown in Asiatic countries, because these primitive peoples >do not ill-treat their soils. ■ (3) As a soil deficiency disease, the incidence of infantile paralysis will be confined to soil deficient districts or farms, and then only to the summer months, when the rate of mierobic propagation is fastest. Only people fed for prolonged periods Exclusively on foods grown on deficient soils are liable eventually to develop the disease— so why all this scare? THOMAS A. F. STOXE.