OUR BABIES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue 12998, 10 November 1916, Page 1

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia.) Published under 1 ' the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the i Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of- a precipice than to "maintain an ambulance at the bottom." -INFANTILE PARALYSIS. THE NATURE, MANNER OF CONVEYANCE, AND MEANS OF INFANTILE PARALYSIS(Continued from the Rockefeller Report. commenced last- week.) —Resistance of the Virus. — ' The physical properties of the virus of Infantile Paralysis adapt it well for conveyance to the ncse and tin cat. Being contained in their secretions, it. is readily distributed! by coughing, sneezing kissing, and by means of fingers and articles contaminated with these secretions, as well as with tne intestinal discharges. Moreover, as tho virus is. t>liroAVii> off from ilic mingled with the secretions, it withstands for a long time even the highest summer temperatures, complete drying, and oven the action of weak chemicals, such as glycerine and carbolic acid, which destroy ordinary bacteria. Hence mere drying of the secretions is no protection ; on the contrary, as the dried secretions may be converted into dust, which is gathered into the nose- ana throat, they become a potential source of infection. The survival of the virus in the -secretions is favored by wear* daylight and darkness, and hindered by bright daylight and sunshine. It is readily destroyc.il by exposure to sunlight.

" —Conveyance by Insects. Since epidemics of Infantile Paialys.hi always arise during the period of warmor summer weather, tivey have been thought of as possibly connected with or dependent oil insect life. The bloodsucking insects have especially come, under suspicion. Experiments have been made with biting-flies,. bed-bugs, mosquitoes, and with lice. Neither mosquitoes nor lice seem able to take tiie \ niis ifrom the. blood ot infected monkeys or to retain it for a time in a living state. In one instance oe-d.rugs. have been made to take up the virus frcin the blood of monkeys, but tiiey <iiid not convey it by hitiifcg to hcalthj iuonkevs. Certain) experiments did indicate "'that the biting stable i y couk. both withdraw the virus from the Wood of infected and re-convey it to tlie b.octl healthy monkeys, -which l-t cani- patalysed. But mere recent .-tudu.-s j liU u failed to confirm the eailiei oiu-s. over, experimentally inoculated monkeys' differ in one way Ironi huina.i beings suffering front Infantile 1-mak-sK 4or while the virus nmj a-ppci in the blood of the forinci it hi i * been detected an the blocd oi T.ie la te-. The ordinary or domestic (ly mat Income contaminated with the .uu -. —ntained in the secretions ol the boat ..n.. servo as the agent of its ti a.-. i V u t..ti n to persous svnd to focd wiili »\li-cn tI"K3 come into contact. Donuotio flits c x perimen,tally contaminated with the virus remain infective for 48 hours or longer. While our present knowledge excludes insects- from- being active agents iu tlx© dissemination tile Paralysis, they nevertheless fall under suspicion as being potential me. chanieal* can'iers of the virus of the disease.

by Domestic .Animals. j The. atention which the recent epidemic of Infantile Paralysis has drawn to the disease attended by paralysis haa led to the discovery that domestic animals and pets are subject to paralytac diseases. The animals wluch have especially ccme under suspicion as possibly distributing the germ of Infantile Paralysis are poultry, pigs, dogs, and cats. ' But iu'isolated instances sheep, cattle, and even horses have been suspected. All these kinds of animals are subject to diseases in which paralysis of the legs and other parts of the body sometimes appears. In not a few instances paralytic diseases among poultry or pigs have been noted to coincide with the appearance cf cases or Infantile Paralysis on a farm or m a community. Experimental studies have, however, excluded the above-men-tioned animals from being carriers Oi tho virus of Infantile Paralysis. The paralytic diseases from which they suffer have long been known, and are quite different from Infantile Paralysis. Their occurrence may be coincidental; in noinstance investigated has one been found to bo responsible for the other. —l?outes of Travel.— Studies carried out in various countries in which Infantile Paralysis has been epidemic all indicate that, in extending from place to place or point to point, the route taken is that of ordinary'travel. This is equally true >vhetlier tlie route is by water or land, along a simple highway or the line of a railroad. In other words, the evidence derived from this class of studies confirms the evidence obtained from other sources in connecting the distributing agency intimately with human beings and their activities. —Survival of the Virus in the Infected

Body.— The virus- of Infantile Paralysis is> destroyed in the interior of the body more quickly and completely than, in instances, in the mucous membrane of the uose and throat-. It has been- found in monkeys, in which accurate experiments can be carried out, that the virus 'may disappear from the brain and spinal cord within a few days to three weeks after the appearance of the paralysis, while at the same time it is still present upon the mucous membrane mentioned. The longest period after inoculation in which the virus, has been detected in the mucous membrane of the nose and throat of monkeys is six months. It is far more difficult to detect, the human than the monkey carriers of the virus, since, as directly obi tnined from human beings, the virusdisplays a low decree of infectivity for monkeys; while Qnce adapted to monkeys. the virus becomes incredibly active, so that minute quantities are capable of ready detection by inoculation tests. Vet in an undoubted' instance of the human disease the virus ivas detected in the mucous membrane of the thrci't five months after its acute onset, j Hence we possess conclusive, evidence of the occurrence of occasional •chronic human carriers- of the virus of Infantile Paralysis.

—Fluctuation in Epidemics.— Not all epidemics of Infantile- Paralysis are equally severe. Indeed, great variations or fluctuations are known to occur not only in the number of cases, but- also in the ' death-rate. The extremes are represented- by the occasional instances of Infantile Paralysis known in every considerable community, and from which no extension takes place, and the instances in which in a- fewday? or weeks the number of cases. ri. c es ; by leaps and bounds into the hundreds, and the death-rate reaches 20 tier cent, i or more of those attacked. While all the factors which determine this discrepancy are not known, certain of them have become apparent. Abactor of high importance, is the infective power or potency, or, technically stated, the virulence of the micro-organism or virus causing the disease. This virus is subject to fluctuations of intensity. . . . Another, but- more indefinite factor, relates- to tlie degree of suspectibility among children and others affected which at one period may be greater or , less than at another. Next week we shall continue the Report of the Rockefeller Institute.