Reports and papers on epidemic poliomyelitis.

Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Reports and papers on epidemic poliomyelitis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In 1898 a lecture was given by Dr. Buzzard18 “ On cases illustrating the Infective Origin of Infantile Paralysis,” in which some striking examples are given. Dr. Treves25 reported an epidemic of eight cases in 1908 at Upminster, a small village in Essex. The first epidemic of any magnitude occurred in Bristol in 1909, and was the subject of an article by Dr. George Parker in The British Medical Journal,” of March 18th, 1911. There were 37 cases. Dr. F. E. Batten,20 in a valuable contribution to the epidemiology of poliomyelitis states that Dr. Garrow in 1910 discovered 13 cases of poliomyelitis in the town of Mary port, in Cumberland, besides scattered cases in various villages in the west of Cumberland, and 37 permanent cripples at Barrow-in-Furness, which he attributed to results of the disease. Thirty-four cases were notified in the city of Carlisle in the same year. A small but interesting outbreak, which occurred in Clack- mannanshire, not far from the town of Tillicoultry, was studied by Drs. D. W. Currie and Edwin Bramwell, a report of which appears in “ The Edinburgh Medical Journal” for October, 1911. They also bring forward evidence which they believe justifies the con- clusion that acute poliomyelitis was more prevalent than usual in various parts of England and Scotland during the autumn of 1910, and, further, that this increased frequency was as pronounced, if not more so, in the smaller towns and rural districts as in the cities. From a consideration of the reports of epidemics of this disease, certain characters in its epidemiology to which different writers have drawn attention, may be noted. Seasonal incidence.—In temperate climates epidemic poliomyelitis generally occurs in summer and autumn. In America epidemics are, almost without exception, confined to the warm season, i.e., May to November, and in the southern hemi- sphere from January to April (a season corresponding to the late summer or “ fall ” in America). While this is so, however, it does not preclude the possibility of cases occurring at other seasons. Thus, the 1,025 cases which occurred in Sweden in 1905 had, according to Wickman, the following monthly distribution : — [ J anuary ... 1 May ... 7 September ... 243 February ... 5 June ... 20 October 140 March ... 4 July ... 137 November ... 69 April ... 4 August ... 367 December ... 28 In the New was as follows York epidemic of 1907 the date of onset of the cas January ... 5 May ... 10 September ... 218 February ... 3 June ... 59 October 71 March ... 4 July ... 133 November ... 20 April ... 3 August ... 188 Date not stated 24. December ... 4
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