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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    sent to an office for reproduction. On 25th September a lady of 34 years of age, who took charge of the sketches at the office, was attacked with paresis of both legs and complete paralysis of the left thigh. The population of Stockholm is about 300,000. During the year 1905 there were only 11 known cases of poliomyelitis in the city. As no other source of infection could be traced, Wickman infers that the contagion was conveyed by the sketches. Dust.—The occurrence of epidemic poliomyelitis in the hot, dry, dusty season has given rise to the surmise that dust may possibly be a factor in the spread of the disease. It has further been suggested (as the horse is said to suffer from a similar disease) that the infective agent in dust may be horse manure. Insect transmission.—It has been suggested that insects may possibly play a part in the transmission of this disease. Flexner and Clark9 have shown that house flies contaminated with the virus of poliomyelitis harbour the virus in a living and infectious state for at least 48 hours. Transmission of infection by biting insects has also been suggested. Epidemics among domestic animals.—It has been stated, in con- nection with a number of epidemics, that domestic animals— including chickens, dogs, horses, pigs, cattle, and sheep, were found, in the same district, to be suffering from paralytic diseases clinically similar to the disease prevailing among human beings. The lumbar cord of a chicken, examined by Dana,10 of New York, showed lesions resembling those of poliomyelitis. A number of medical men in America have reported the occur- rence of a disease in the horse resembling poliomyelitis. In this connection the observations of Dr. Shore,20 who carries on veterinary practice, are of interest. He noted a disease appearing among one and two-year-old colts that showed symptoms corresponding closely to poliomyelitis. These cases always occur during the summer months, and the majority of them during August. Krouse, of Bonn, reports the occurrence of a paralytic affection in chickens. The similarity between poliomyelitis and rabies has led certain observers to the conclusion that the former must also be derived directly or indirectly from the lower animals, but nothing has so far been definitely ascertained with regard to the matter. The Committee who investigated the New York epidemic state— “ It was impossible to learn of any infection of the lower animals which might have had any relation to the disease in question.” Drug treatment of the disease. It was claimed by certain clinical observers17 that urotropin ninistered in large doses had a beneficial effect on the disease. led to experimental work being undertaken, t is found that, when a large dose of urotropin is administered by mouth to monkeys, its presence can be demonstrated, by he n fil tests, in the cerebro-spinal fluid soon afterwards. lx the virus of poliomyelitis is injected into the nervous system of moLii-.ey in which urotropin is already present in the cerebro- spinal Jluil. and if the drug is administered by the mouth daily L 21 .s