INFANTILE PARALYSIS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8681, 14 March 1914, Page 8

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

A LITTLE KNOWN DISEASE ITS SYMPTOMS AND RAVAGES Explained. Tie recent order-in-council making obligatory -the notification of cases of the disease commonly known as infantile paralysis has had the effect of drawing public attention to this little known complaint. Popularly it is supposed to be an affection peculiar to children, but that it also affects adults has been established beyond any doubt. Inquiries made by a “Times” reporter yesterday elicited .some interesting information as to the characteristics and effects of the disease. It is. sudden in its onset and is attended as a rule by fever. The paralysis is of a nature that in pathology has been termed flaccid, and affects one of tho several limbs. Within a short time tho extent and severity of the paralysis diminish to a certain degree, and are followed by a wasting of the muscles of tho affected-parts. As a rule the disease appears in a child that has been previously well and rarely following any infectious disease. Occasionally it occurs in single cases, but recently there have been epidemics. Several members of the same family may bo attacked, and it is supposed that even lower animals may become affected. This has led to tho belief that the disease con bo transmitted through soil or water. PARTIAL PARALYSIS.

Several bacteriologists have stated recently that they have isolated a germ and by means of injecting the poison into monkeys have produced the same disease. The part principally affected is the spinal cord, especially where the nerves supplying the muscles are given off. In a child, as a rule, it involves the paralysis of one or both the lower limbs. All the muscles of the limb do not become paralysed, but only certain muscles controlled by particular* nerves. Tho paralysis is always flaccid and the patient cannot move the affected limb freely, though total inability to move it does not occur. It amounts, in the popular acceptation, to partial paralysis. Sometimes (though instances are rare) there may be weakness or paralysis of the abdominal and chest muscles, producing inability to sit up or stand properly. Not only does the disease induce atrophy of the muscles in the parts affected, but also of the bones, so that after a time the affected limb will be found not to have grown to the same extent as the healthy member. In adults the disease may appear m the same way as in children, but it has a tendency to involve two or -three limbs, and may involve both legs and both arms. The course of the disease in both cases is chronic, and with the exception of the improvement of the paralysis in the first few weeks 'there is no recovery of the functions of the part affected. , PREVENTIVE TREATMENT.

As nothing very definite is yet knojvn as to the manner in which the disease is produced, preventive treatment is difficult to carry out, but it is suggested that parents should take the same care of their children as they do in respect to other infectious diseases. Tramcars, theatres, and other places where 'by reason of the close aggregation of people contagion is a comparatively simple matter should be avoided as much as possible. The acute wset of the disease is often regarded. lightly, and nothing done till the paralysis has developed. It is, of course, well to call in a doctor as early as possible. The only hope of recovering partial function is the application of massage and electricity to the affected muscles after the first few weeks* This must he continued for a long time. ; • Lately work has been done at Home by specialists in deformities which inspires the hope that in the near future the disease will he treated with greater, success than has been possible in the past. The treatment that has now been tried consists of the transplanting of the tendons of healthy muscles to the muscles affected by the disease. Treatment of this character has already been carried out, . Only one case of the disease has been reported in Wellington—that of an adult, who is at present in the Wellington' Hospital. On enquiry it was ascertained that only one case of the disease exists in Wellington —that of an adult who is at present) in the Wellington hospital.