A manual of infectious diseases occurring in schools / by H. G. Armstrong and J. M. Fortescue-Brickdale ; ; with chapters on Infectious eye diseases by R.W. Doyne and Ringworm by H. Aldersmith.
- Armstrong, Henry George.
- Date:
- 1912
Licence: In copyright
Credit: A manual of infectious diseases occurring in schools / by H. G. Armstrong and J. M. Fortescue-Brickdale ; ; with chapters on Infectious eye diseases by R.W. Doyne and Ringworm by H. Aldersmith. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)
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![may belong to the same class as the unseen virus which is responsible for rabies or hydrophobia. Epidemic poliomyelitis is only feebly infective, and the mode of infection is not clearly understood. The incubation period seems usually to be about a week, but varies very much in experimental cases (four to forty-six days in monkeys). The onset is usually with fever, vomiting, and convulsions, followed by pains which may easily be mistaken for those of acute rheumatism. In some epidemics catarrh and inflam- mation of the nose and throat are constant]y observed. In others these symptoms are absent. In many cases again, there are intestinal disturbances such as diarrhoea. Paralysis of groups of muscles or entire limbs generally occurs within a week, and is followed by wasting of the affected parts. In most instances, however, only a portion of the parts originally involved become permanently affected. A few cases occur without paralysis or pain. Complete recovery is uncommon (5 per cent), but recovery with only shght paralysis is not infrequent. A fatal issue during the acute stage is not frequently seen, but in some epidemics has reached 15 per cent. There is no specific treatment. Prophylaxis.—So little is known of the methods by which the disease is spread that it is dif&cult to lay down definite rules. Isolation for three weeks and the usual methods of disinfection are probably advis- able. In some cases dirty swimming baths have been thought to spread the disease ; so that for this, if for no other reason, all swimming baths should be kept as bacteriologically clean as possible. Dust has been held responsible for the spread of the disease, and in one epidemic (Stowmarket, 1911) the cases ceased when thorough watering of the streets](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21686774_0125.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
