Investigations on epidemic infantile paralysis : report from the State Medical Institute of Sweden to the XV International Congress of Hygiene and Demography, Washington 1912.

  • Karolinska mediko-kirurgiska institutet.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Investigations on epidemic infantile paralysis : report from the State Medical Institute of Sweden to the XV International Congress of Hygiene and Demography, Washington 1912. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    Introduction. Last year our country was visited by the largest epidemic of infantile paralysis that has ever appeared in Sweden. During the course of the year about 3800 cases were observed. Already early in the summer the cases were becoming remarkably numerous and in August they had reached an alarming number. Our knowledge of the disease had, it is true, lately been increased very considerably, thanks chiefly to experimental investigations, but the manner of trans- mission of the infection was still very little known, although after Wickman's thorough studies of the large Swedish epidemic of 1905, many things argued in favour of the probability of a transmission from one person to another. The need of definite, ra- tional measures calculated to prevent, if possible, the spread of the disease made itself more and more felt. But as suitable instructions for such measures cannot be worked out without a knowledge of the origin and manner of propagation of the infection, the Royal Board of Directors of the Medical Department char- ged the Bacteriological Department of the State Me- dical Institute to investigate the manner in which the infection is transmitted. This investigation was started early in September last year. As lately the observations speaking in favour of the disease being infectious have continued to increase it