Show MORE ABOUT INFANTILE PARALYSIS the first cases of infantile paralysis were described 48 years ago in stock holm sweden sev en years later the first cases were ob served in this country in the state ol of Ver vermont in 1007 1907 and in 1916 there were several thousand cases in new york city since that time infantile paral paralysis sis has hag occurred in almost all communities in the united states each year ear a few isolated cases occur in various communities every four or five years epidemic waves or several cases occur in every community the disease Is well known to the public not because it Is so fatal but because those who survive are so frequently deformed and paralyzed during 1031 there were deaths from infantile paralysis in the state of illinois during the same year there were deaths from diphtheria from measles and from spinal meningitis from rc scarlet arlet fever and from whooping cough these figures are given to li illustrate Ju that infantile paralysis Is not a major killing disease 1931 was an epidemic year for infantile paralysis in illinois in that we had cases reported 1017 1917 1921 and 1927 1027 were also epidemic years this shows the wavelike appearance of centers of infection infantile paralysis Is caused by an ultramicroscopic ultra microscopic virus or in other words the causative agent is too small to be seen with a microscope prevalence of the disease usually begins be iris to increase noticeably in june reaches its peak in early september and declines rapidly ati h the onset of cold weather it Is a summer and early fall disease and it Is a disease of the north temperate zones of the world in the tropical ical and subtropical regions b where it Is warm most of the year there are very few cases of infantile paralysis the reason for this is unknown the disease is transmitted from person to person by direct contact the transfer of secretions from the nose nd throat by coughing spitting or by the hands or it may be by food or other objects which are handled by several people in rapid succession it is now thought that infection with the causative agent of infantile caraly els eis Is widespread but that only a few of the infected persons develop paralysis sis the paralysis Is due to invasion of the nervous system by the virus this causes destruction of nerve tissue and leads to paralysis of the muscles supplied by these nerves thus infantile paralysis is a difficult disease to control and it Is extremely difficult to determine who Is spreading the contagion some authorities think that the august and september colds anil and digestive disturbances of children are due to mild attacks of infantile paralysis sis it if this Is true these cases do not have an Infect infection Lon of their nervous system and hence do not have paralysis but nevertheless these mild cases spread the contagion infantile paralysis Is 18 essentially a disease of childhood as its name implies sixty sisty five per cent of all cases of infantile paralysis occur under five years sears of age and 95 per cent under tinder ten years yeam most of the remaining 5 per ent cent occur between the ages agea of ten and twenty but any age can be affected the peculiar individual susceptibility of the child seems to be the determining factor in infantile paralysis it Is seldom that two children in the same family have this disease when sev eral cases do occur in a family they usually come down together or within a short time of each other indicating a common source of infection it la Is estimated that more than half the grownup grown up people of the country are immune or resistant to infantile caraly se so tar far as we know now this can only have been brought about by having ing had experience with the virus causing ing this disease hence most of us then have fought a battle with the army of invaders causing infantile paralysis and we have won the fight we still know hardly anything abut about this baffling disease but there is one bright spot in the picture convalescent serum three factors are of greatest importance in controlling infantile paralysis first early diagnosis must be made lf if tile the case Is to be benefited by serum treatment second the serum must be injected before the beginning ot of caraly ris 48 in order to prevent paralysis third if early paralysis has developed then extensive deformity can be prevented ir if treatment Is carried out under the direction of an surge surgeon tn western |