INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 92, 13 January 1932, Page 5

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Hard to Diagnose EFFICACY OF SERUM Whether or not the hitherto invisible germ of infantile paralysis has been isolated, as is claimed, does not matter a great deal, for the ./methods of treatment of the disease are not dependent upon it, said Dr. A. B. Pearson, pathologist at the Christchurch Hospital, recently. The use of serum prepared from the blood of people who have recovered from the disease has been wonderfully effective, he said, and in the event of an outbreak occurring in New Zealand —he did not anticipate one, for there were, as far as he knew, no cases in the country now—the Health Department and the hospitals would be able to cope with it One problem in which the medical profession was interested, and toward a solution of which the isolation of the bacteria might conceivably help, was the possibility of preventive immunisation. But although it would be an excellent thing to be able to inoculate against the disease, it was found that even when there was a very good means of preventing an illness, the public did not take advantage of it until an actual epidemic occurred. A difficulty with infantile paralysis was the occurrence of isolated or sporadic cases, which were not necessarily easy to diagnose. A child could have a fever and vague pains, which might be thought to be influenza, for instance, until paralysis set in. > Then it was really too late for satisfactory treatment.

, During an epidemic, symptoms that might be those of infantile paralysis naturally aroused suspicion, the spinal fluid of the patient was examined, and if the characteristic inflammatory change in the fluid were found, an injection of the serum was given. Usually this caused the cas.6 to go to a favourable termination without paralysis. There were scattered cases of exceptionally virulent infection in which the serum failed, but they were rare. An important question was the way in which the disease was carried. It was probable that a person who had the disease was no longer infectious, for it appeared that the virus, lodging first in the back of the throat, rapidly lost its virulence once it had set up the disease. It was likely that the real danger was the perfectly healthy carrier, who, unknowingly, might spread the disease for two or three weeks.

Once anyone has been attacked by infantile paralysis, hb is immune for the rest of his life. Most adults are immune, and in America serum prepared from the blood of an ordinary adult, not known to have had infantile paralysis, had been successfully used as an injection. It is preferable, however, to use the blood of people who have recovered from it. Close study has shown that a very largeproportion of civilised people, especially in cities, contract the disease at some period of their lives in so mild a form that it is never /recognised, and they are, of course,' immune after that.