INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 1509, 16 January 1914, Page 8

INFANTILE PARALYSIS.

OUTBREAK IN DUNEDIN.

AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE.

MEDICAL MEN'S OPINIONS

DANGER OF DEFORMITY.

[bt TKLF.GRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Christchxrch, Thursday. A message from Dunedin states that the Health Department warns parents that an epidemic of infantile paralysis is gaining there.

This telegram was referred to local medical men this afternoon, and some interesting particulars were obtained regarding the disease. In the past there have been sporadic cases of infantile paralysis in New Zealand, but, so far as is known, no epidemic. The disease is believed to be caused by an organism, and is infectious. It is only recently that the infectious nature of the disease hits been discovered. The disease usually results in death or permanent disablement, and is not confined to children. It is believed that with proper precautions the epidemic can be prevented from spreading to Christchuich.

The opinion is held by some medical men that the epidemic has reached Dunedin from America, where it has been rife of late. A doctor who has recently arrived from Britain, where he had considerable experience of the disease, besides working under a well-known Americau authority, gave some interesting details concerning it. Its correct name, he said, was poliomyelitis. It was almost certainly an infectious disease, after the style of diphtheria. It was due to an organism which, however, had not yet been identified. On occasions the disease occurred sporadically all over Britain and Australasia, but on other occasions, when changes occurred in the organism of an epidemic in the ordinary sense, it was not infective so far as medical men knew.

In 1908, there were 500 cases in New York alone, many of which ended fatally, whilst a large number of others resulted in paralysis and deformities. Most of the club feet one saw were due to infantile paralysis. The disease could occur amongst adults. A large number of adults in Scotland had been stricken, as well as many people in America. With adults the disease generally left as a legacy some form of paralysis. So far as he knew, no previous epidemic had occurred in New Zealand. The epidemic would be very difficult to tackle, because so little was known about it. The only way would be to class it as an. infections disease, and see that cases were notified promptly to the Health Department.

The disease usually started with an ordinary feverish attack, and then the parents would suddenly discover that one of the child's limbs was paralysed. The disease usually attacked the legs, though it also occurred in the arms. It usually resulted fatally, or in permanent injury, though there were cases of complete recovery The number of fatalities depended upon the severity of the epidemic. The percentage of deformities was very high. '