OCR Text |
Show . Fight Spread of Paralysis Epidemic By WILLIAM C. UTLEY APPROXIMATELY 350 cases of poliomyelitis "polio" for short and popularly known as "infantile paralysis" have been brought to light in North - - Carolina in one of the worst epidemics epi-demics of the dread disease In recent re-cent history. The epidemic is rapidly spreading spread-ing north into Virginia. Its further course will probably be checked with the advent of cooler weather, for polio is a summer disease, and by the efforts of local, state and federal fed-eral authorities, they have turned By WILLIAM C. UTLEY PROXIMATELY 3o0 cases yr S. of poliomyelitis "polio" for f w--' ' ? J&"s ' short and popularly known I ir- ' Jf'j? TS as "infantile paralysis'- .lg5, ' A have been brought to light In North ( V ' f If ' ' ""tlT V?r. N Carolina In one of the worst epl i tf , ICt 1 P r-9 tl demies of the dread disease In re- lfl, Y" i 13 -1! fi 1 V-W , .1 cent history. ; i 1 J Iff S V S The epidemic is rapidly spreid : T, V LS"? f Mil f if ? I Ing north into Virginia. Its further f -J r4xtt' A course will probably be checked ; , Itf? , ,J ' I ,-( " ' II " ' I with the advent of cooler weather - ",' . """ - ... i ' for polio is a summer disease, and ; ' , laL2.A 4 " 2 ' by the efforts of local, state and fed , x ' '1 era! authorities, they have turned f ' ' 1 , " v - 4 igF-tW I - T'M-i t.jk ,m-a " 1 v r wg-H I , J ""1 fe"i !,wp" wsi'i52r v"w-girr ? , ;tf J'-' ' Left: Exercising the muscles of an infantile paralysis victim in ; 1 the underwater treatment Above: A new shipment of Rhesus monkeys , v v ' arrives from Asia to provide experimental serums. Right: Ready to ' t ' fea Qive their lives for science. : a';:' , sfrl .v I termined, for it has not yet had suf- federal men have the names of the r ( 2 I ficient test. recipients on file and the recipients it? y J J A necessary requisite for both themselves under observation. The -" 1 vaccines is the Rhesus monkey, the Idea, of course, is to observe wheth- c y , ' ( ' ' 1 little "blushing" monkey, so called er fewer cases develop among the t " I because of the way his face gets vaccinated group than among the K " , - a red when he is excited, which we control group. ' , Jr see In zoos. Of course other tests are being the area Into a gigantic laboratory for the study of the use of vaccines in Immunizing persons to the disease. dis-ease. Jledical authorities on the spot believe it will prove to be the most important experiment of its kind ever undertaken. North Carolina's plight follows In Uie wake of lesser epidemics in California and elsewhere. The very seriousness of the Increase in ln-fantile ln-fantile paralysis cases may prove to be a blessing in disguise If enough can be learned about the insidious virus, which twists and cripples bodies, to protect humanity against it in the future. The first widespread attack of polio was noticed in Jackson county, coun-ty, in the far western part of North Carolina. From there the disease Jumped, in the words of Dr. J. C. Knox, state epidemiologist, "like a skyrocket," and "burst" in Raleigh and the rest of Wake county, all the way "across the state, on the Atlantic seaboard. It Is believed that the disease in North Carolina has been checked , and is abating, but in Virginia the """"""""V""" number of cases reported is on the upturn, its course having seemingly followed the highway over the entire en-tire length of the state, with no Indication In-dication yet as to where its spread will stop. Cause of Spread Unknown. Just how the disease was carried car-ried is not known. Direct contact with a diseased person is not necessary neces-sary to contract it. It almost never strikes two members of the same family. "Carriers" people who have such mild cases of polio that they do not even feel sick carry the virus to others whose natural . immunity is low and who therefore contract the disease in considerably more violent form. That is much tlie same as the manner in which typhoid fever and diphtheria are spread. A single carrier, unknown to himself, may create several se-yere se-yere cases. When a few carriers hit a region where the natural immunity of the people Is relatively low, an epidemic is usually the result. That is probably prob-ably what happened In North Carolina Caro-lina and Virginia. While the disease Is not nearly go much confined to young children chil-dren as the term Infantile paralysis would suggest, it Is siiil more prevalent preva-lent In children of five or less than In any other age group. For that reason the. one sure preventive is a difficult one to administer. It is complete Isolation. The only way to he absolutely certain of keeping children from catching polio Is to keep them away from nil playmates nd from all crowds. Unfortunately there Is no sure way to toll who is immune and who Id not. And there Is no means of effecting artificial Immunity which ns been satisfactorily proven. Vaccines Vac-cines which may do the trick are lxlng tested now in the southeast epidemic. Pr. Maurice Brodie. wnrkinc under un-der Dr. William II. Parks, head of the New York cily health department, depart-ment, has developed the Pnrk-P.ro-iie Tacclne. Another has been de- TCloped by Dr. John A. Kolmer. of XJP' the Temple university medical sctiool in Philadelphia. With the William II. Merroll company, man-ifncturing man-ifncturing chemists of Cincinnati, Doctor Kolmer Is providing between 1.000 and '000 "shots" of the vaccine vac-cine free every month enough to raccinate about 3.000 children. Tp Two Serums. Neither of those vaccines must be believed to he a cure. They are merely preventives. Roth of them contain the polio virus not a bac- (criuni, but a poison. The Parks-' Parks-' Brodie vaccine contains the "killed" rims and Doctor Kolmer's contains the grentely weakened virus. P.oth inve boon known to produce in ani-aiais ani-aiais an immunity which lasts about tvro years. How long it will last In BU-can brings has not yet boon de- Left: Exercising the muscles of an infantile paralysis victim In the underwater treatment Above: A new shipment of Rhesus monkeys arrives from Asia to provide experimental serums. Right: Ready to give their lives for science. termined, for It has not yet had sufficient suf-ficient test. A necessary requisite for both vaccines is the Rhesus monkey, the little "blushing" monkey, so called because of the way his face gets red when he is excited, which we see in zoos. Rhesus monkeys are imported from India, where they are held to be sacred, at a cost of $10 each. In preparation for giving his life that humanity may be saved from the scourge of polio, the monkey is quarantined for two weeks to make sure that it Is In good health. At the end of that period it is given an ether anesthetic and the polio virus Is Injected through its skull into the brain. Infantile paralysis develops. When the disease reaches its climax, cli-max, the monkey is killed and its spinal cord, full of the virus, is removed. This cord Is hacked up into tiny bits and immersed in a salt solution in a vessel which contains con-tains a number of steel balls a half Inch or so in diameter. While the vessel is shaken and agitated for 12 hours, the balls crush the bits of spinal cord to a pulp. The fluid which is thus contained Is attenuated attenu-ated with sodium ricinoleate and allowed al-lowed to incubate for eight hours. Then it is strained and purified and put into bottles which hold five cubic centimeters each, enough to bring immunity to three children. Children Replace Animals. While indications certainly point to the fact that at least artificial immunity im-munity has been perfected, the vaccines vac-cines are still admittedly in the ex-experimental ex-experimental stage. The last great experiment is one of the most dramatic dra-matic medical tests that could be imagined. For Instead of monkeys or white mice, the laboratory subjects are boys and girls. Some of them are selected to receive the vaccine and an equal number are selected as "controls" who will not receive the injections, but who will be observed for symptoms exactly the same as tlie vaccinated subjects. Ail selections are made by lot. To insure against tlie personal acquaintance ac-quaintance element which might destroy de-stroy the Impartiality so vital to such an undertaking, the administration adminis-tration of the tests has been taken out of the hands of local authorities. authori-ties. Medical men from the United Slates public health service are operating op-erating to relieve local physicians from tlie inhuman task. Dr. James P. Leake directs the work. Dr. A. G. Gilliam, at Greensboro, N. C., has been charged with the thankless job of deciding which children are to receive the vaccine and which are to act as controls. It is he who must listen to the pitiful, pleading of parents that their children chil-dren be given the chance for immunity. immu-nity. Here is something which may prevent their loved ones from contracting con-tracting one of the most dreadful of all diseases. Even if it does not work it will do no harm. Put humanity must know for certain cer-tain whether it will work. And if such knowledge is ever to be acquired, ac-quired, the tests must be conducted Impersonally. Tlie vaccine must be administered to children of all classes tlie poor, the rich, the intelligent, in-telligent, the unintelligent. It must be given to many whether their parents par-ents want them to have It or not. And it must be withheld from others oth-ers whose parents have, like one of tli e most prominent surgeons In the Poulh. fought tooth and toenail and pulled every string In desperate desper-ate attempt to swure immunization for them. Selecting the Subjects. There Is a drama for you! What heroes these federal men are to he able to withstand the frantic pleading plead-ing of loving mothers and straw-grasping straw-grasping fathers! Hero's the way Doctor Gilliam does It: Parents who desire Tacrine for their children register with their family physician. Half the children are selected for vaccine and the other half as controls by Doctor Gilliam's office. Then those to he vaccinated are ordered to report bark to their physician and are given the Tacrine. The phvs'rian must give It as ordered, must ac count for his supply, because the federal men have the names of the recipients on file and the recipients themselves under observation. The idea, of course, Is to observe whether wheth-er fewer cases develop among the vaccinated group than among the control group. Of course other tests are being made. It Is being found that injections in-jections of serums prepared from the blood of convalescent cases is not harmful, but Is also of very little help. Dr. W. Lloyd Aycock, of the infantile paralysis commission commis-sion of Harvard university believes that heredity is an important factor fac-tor and is making experiments to determine the truth of his assumption. assump-tion. Symptoms Often Unrecognized. Infantile paralysis in a locality where there is no epidemic Is often oft-en unrecognized until actual paralysis paraly-sis sets in. At first it looks like any one of a number of other infectious in-fectious diseases. There is headache, head-ache, vomiting, drowsiness, Irritability, Irrita-bility, fever, flushing, congestion of the throat and great sweating at night. Usually early symptoms are stiffness of the back and neck. Since the inflammation reaches the nervous nerv-ous system, there may be pain In the muscles and joints, tenderness of the skin and pain in moving any of the joints. This latter pain may be so intense that any slight movement move-ment will be almost unbearable. As soon as the doctor suspects polio, he will probably want to make certain laboratory tests to make sure, for there are other diseases, dis-eases, such as meningitis, which affect the spinal cord. He will probably prob-ably inject a needle into the spinal cord and draw off some of the fluid to examine it. In the early, or preparalytic stages, the disease may resemble a severe summer cold and Is indeed upon Instance without more harmful harm-ful permanent effect than a cold. Early and correct diagnosis Is of great importance. The victini is immediately put to bed and given nbsolute rest. Perhaps Per-haps the doctor will administer a convalescent blood serum or a vaccine, vac-cine, tlie usefulness of neither of which is certain. The patient is kept away from all contact with others. And that is about all that can be done at that point. Six or eight weeks may be the period during which all movement or exertion is highly dangerous. The apparent helplessness of the physician during this period sometimes some-times drives frightened parents to accept the remedies of so-called "natural healers" and other quacks which often destroy the patient's chances for survival. Exercise Must Be Gradual. Not until every trace of tenderness tender-ness is gone can even the simplest of muscle exercises begin. Fatigue must be avoided. Relaxation and ease must he encouraged. ,Swimming pools and underwater treatment are desirable in most cases. This method meth-od was discovered in a Chicago hospital. The development of the Warm Springs. Ga.. pool under the patronage of Its most distinguished visitor and patient. President Franklin I). Roosevelt, and using his name for Its natural publicity value, has encouraged many cities to maintain pools for the underwater underwa-ter treatment of Infantile paralysis. paraly-sis. Slowly but certainly, mankind is going to learn how to beat poliomyelitis, polio-myelitis, just as It has other diseases. dis-eases. One of the most Important steps will be the experiments now being conducted in North Carolina and Virginia. Meanwhile, parents whose children chil-dren have been afflicted need only to examine history to take heart. To mention only two, there are men who have attained great heights although victims of Infantile Infan-tile paralysis. Sir Walter Scott was struck down by the disease when hardly more than a hahy, yet lived to become immortal In tlie world of letters; Franklin D. Roosevelt did not contract it un:il he was a fully grown man, vet he is today President Presi-dent of tlie United Stales and one of the most tireless dynamos of energy in ail history. The moral is: Take heart and don't give up! Western NewreiDer I'nlon |