INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Southland Times, Issue 19458, 23 January 1925, Page 5

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

THE NORTHERN EPIDEMIC. LATEST NOTIFICATIONS. CADET CAMPS CANCELLED. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, January 22. Infantile paralysis notifications for the 24 hours to 9 a.m. are: Shannon, Muritai, Ngaio, and Auckland, one each. General Melvill has issued instructions to cancel until further notice all Cadet camps and parades in northern and central commands. Territorial campfl and parades are not affected. AUCKLAND, January 22. Two cases of infantile paralysis were notified to-day, one being in the suburbs and the other in the country. HATES TO SEE TEACHERS IDLE. WANGANUI BOARD’S PROPOSAL. WANGANUI, January 22. When a communication from the Health Department- came before the Education Board relating to extending the school holidays on account of the epidemic, Mr W. Durward (a Palmerston North member) suggested that there was no reason why the school teachers, seeing they were paid, should not return to work. Mr Durward was asked what they would find to do if the children were excluded. He replied that the senior teachers could give lectures, etc., to the juniors, and he added: “Some of them need them.” Other members considered this an excellent idea, even if the lectures were to last for only one hour daily, and it was decided to make representations to the Department in this direction; also to ask the Railway Department, in the event of prolonging the holidays, to extend the time ■of excursion tickets for the benefit of any pupils who may be absent from home. SCHOOLS CLOSED, THEATRES OPEN. A CANTERBURY RESOLUTION. CHRISTCHURCH, January 22. At a meeting of the School Committees’ Association to-night, after a discussion upon infantile paralysis, the following resolution was carried: “That the Association protest to the Minister of Health against closing the schools and leaving the picture shows open. ONSET OF THE DISEASE. THE SYMPTOMS DESCRIBED. PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES. In a memorandum on “Acute Poliomyelitis,” the high-sounding name by which infantile paralysis is known to the medical profession, the British Ministry of Health provides some interesting details with regard to the history, incidence and treatment of the disease. It became compulsorily notifiable throughout England and Wales in September, 1912, a number of local outbreaks having occurred in Great Britain. In certain cases, states the report, the difficulty of diagnosis is great. There is no characteristic skin eruption; usually an initial feversh attack occurs, the temperature seldom rising above 102 or 103 degrees. Commonly there is malaise and drowsiness, accompanied by headache and occasionally by vomiting. Rigidity of the muscles of the neck and spine frequently occurs, and there may be pain or tenderness over the spine. Paralysis, mainly of the placid type, supervenes shortly after the appearance of the primary symptoms. It affects one or more groups of muscles, especially in the limbs, but may involve any part of the muscular system. This is the common form of the disease, but occasionally a child may go to bed apparently well, and be found to be suffering from paralysis in the morning. Cases of poliomyelitis occur in which no paralysis supervenes. The symptoms of these mild attacks are similar to those ushering in the graver forms, and are often associated with general or localised muscular weakness or gastro-intestinal disturbance. Mortality from this cause has varied within wide limits in epidemics of recent years, but commonly ten to twelve per cent of the attacks prove fatal. Over half the patients who survive an attack of acute poliomyelitis are crippled for life. The disease is stated to be most prevalent in the summer. It appears to have no special relationship to social or sanitary conditions and, so far, has been oftener recognised in sparsely populated districts than in large towns. Careful observation of localised outbreaks furnishes circumstantial evidence of the transmission of the disease from person to person, including its transmission by the mild or abortive case, or healthy carrier. “It is important,” continues the report “that precautionary measures should be taken in all suspected cases. As jt has been shown experimentally that the virus is present in the nasal mucous membranes, an antiseptic solution should be applied by means of a spray to the throat and nasal passages, not only of the patients, but of all persons brought into contact with them. A one per cent solution of peroxide of hydrogen or permanganate of potash can be used as a throat wash and gargle. The sick should be isolated from the healthy, and if appropriate isolation and nursing cannot be obtained at home, the patient should be treated in an isolation hospital. Those attending the sick should avoid any contact with others, especially with children from an infected family, and no child should be allowed to attend school.” The predisposing causes of infantile paralysis are stated to be exposure to the heat of the sun, mental or physical fatigue, chills, aggregation of people in insufficiently ventilated places, life under insanitary conditions, and morbid conditions of the throat and intestinal passages.