Infantile paralysis in Massachusetts during 1910.

  • Massachusetts. State Board of Health.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Infantile paralysis in Massachusetts during 1910. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    throw back light on whether a suspicious case occurring in the past may or may not have been abortive infantile paralysis. It is possible by means of neutralization tests to determine this matter by mixing the blood serum of the recovered case with the filtered virus, and injecting the mixture into a monkey, the serum of recovered cases having the power of neu- tralizing a certain amount of the virus. By a study of the changes in the cerebro-spinal fluid in monkeys pre- ceding the paralysis, a forecast of the probable changes in man was worked out, and paralysis predicted in a human case where a lumbar puncture was done early. The case is reported by Frissell.^ The changes are the following: At the height of the lesions in the meninges it has been found in monkeys and confirmed in a human case that the cerebro- spinal fluid is slightly turbid or opalescent, and contains an excess of protein. There is a large increase of white cells, both poly- and mono- nuclear. The fluid may in some cases be distinctly turbid, and poly- nuclear cells may predominate. Paralysis occurs at the height of these changes, and then the changes described in the fluid begin to disappear. In the matter of etiology more attention has been paid to dust, and the data reported by Hill ^ are suggestive. In Winona, Minn., there were 29 cases up to the end of July, 27 occurring on dusty streets. On August 5 street watering was begun at the suggestion of the State and local health officials, and no case occurred in Winona after August 12, although the greatest incidence throughout the State had yet to develop, and the neigh- borhood outside of Winona continued to show cases. Hill quotes also three other instances in the State of a similar occurrence. The need of quarantine is being appreciated, and the experience in Nebraska is worth quoting:® ^‘We are informed that no legal provision had been made for quarantining such cases, and isolation was recom- mended, but, of course, could not be enforced, nor could the impending Fourth of July celebration be abandoned. This celebration was well at- tended, and shortly after cases were reported from communities previ- ously free from the disease, and having had representatives present at the celebration. From May 30 to July 4 we had in the Stromsberg territory 30 cases, while from July 4 to August 3, just thirty days, we had 115 cases.” A quarantine was declared necessary, and put into effect on July 22, and after August 3 there were only 15 cases in the Stromsberg territory. The salient points in progress may be summarized as follows: — (1) A decidedly keener attitude on the part of the profession, the health boards and legislative bodies toward the disease. * Jour. Am. Med. Asao., March 4, 1911, p. 661. * Trans. Prev. Med. of Am. Med. Asso., 1910. * Anderson: Pediatrics, August, 1910.