Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health / City Council of Pretoria.

  • Pretoria (South Africa). Health Department.
Date:
[1955]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health / City Council of Pretoria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The cases were distributed more or less evenly throughout all the suburbs of Pre¬ toria. Forty-two of the cases were males and 28 females. The age incidence was as follows:— 0 up to 1 year 1—5 years 6—10 years 11—15 years 15—20 years 21 years and over Total Males .... 1 20 9 9 2 1 42 Females . . . . - 17 8 2 1 — 28 TOTAL . 1 37 17 11 3 1 70 Three of the cases were adults, 29 were children of school-going age and 38 were pre¬ school children. Two of the patients unfortunately died. Of the 70 cases, 30 had no paresis (weakening of muscles) or paralysis at all. Eleven cases had weakening of certain muscles only and 27 cases had varying de¬ grees of paralysis with or without paresis. Of the total number of cases it is anticipated that only 17 will be left with some de¬ gree of paralysis. The sites and degrees of paralysis in conection with these 17 cases are as follows:'— In four of them one foot is affected, in eight one leg, in four one arm and in one both legs. One patient had paralysis of both upper eye-lids but is gradually improving. In all these paralysed cases there is still great hope of further improvement. The majority of them will probably recover to such an extent that the disability will hardly be noticeable. As regards the more common signs and symptome of the disease, apart from paralysis or paresis, an analysis of the total number of cases show again that stiffness of the neck and back muscles and rise in temperature were the most common early signs and symptoms. In practically all the cases the cerebro-spinal fluid showed an increase in the number of cells. Spasm of the back muscle was also a prominent sign. In some of the cases where we were able to follow the illness from the beginning, the typical so-called “ saddle back temperature ” was noticeable, that is, the illness commences with a rise in temperature which after a day or so drops to normal for two or three days, when a second rise in temperature occurs and the other symptoms together with paralysis or paresis set in. The importance of “ injury ” or fatigue in regard to the extent of paralysis was again illustrated by this analysis:— One patient who had a partial paralysis of the soft palate had had a tonsil operation a short time before the illness. Another patient who had an injection in the leg when the virus was already in his system, developed paralysis of that leg. In one patient who had fallen on the left side of his face just before taking ill, the facial muscles of that side became paralysed. One patient had recently fallen and injured his left leg. This leg was subsequently affected (paresis). One child stood in a car practically all the way to Durban, a distance of about 400 miles. His parents stated that they could not get him to sit down. Both his legs were affected (paresis). Another unusual occurrence is that two children in one family became ill with Polio¬ myelitis on the same day. SCARLET FEVER: Non- European European Total Local Cases. 106 (130) 1- (—) 107 (130) Imported Cases. 7 (8) — (—) 7 (8) This again shows that typical diagnosable Scarlet Fever is very common amongst Bantus. Local Cases: Seven of the cases were adults, 53 were scholars, and 47 were children of pre-school age. Thirteen were removed to the Isolation Wards, 1 to the Military Hospital at Voortrek- kerhoogte, and 93 were treated at home. There were 6 secondary cases.
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