Poliomyelitis pamphlet

Pamphlet educating public on Poliomyelitis, it's causes, symptoms, a person's susceptibility to the disease, and how it can be controlled.

Florida State Board of Health

State Archives of Florida, Series S908

1950 (circa)

pamphlets

eng-US

Text

s908_b001_f14_01

Postwar Florida (1945-1968)

Jacksonville (Fla.)

Duval County (Fla.)

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mid 20th-century

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Health and Safety

Control

POLIOMYELITIS (Infantile Paralysis)

How May It Be Controlled?

IT IS admitted that the methods which have been used in the control of poliomyelitis have been unsatisfactory. There is no practical test whereby the person susceptible to poliomyelitis may be distinguished from the person who is immune. The manner in which infantile paralysis is spread from one person to another and the way in which the virus (germ) gets into the body is not known. The virus is found in the secretions of the nose and throat of patients ill with the disease and also in the bowel discharges. What part "carriers" play in the spread of the disease is not well understood. Care should be taken to dispose of all body secretions and excretions of the patient, including the bowel discharges, so that other persons will not come in contact with them.
IMMEDIATE isolation of sick children is important. Children under fourteen years who have been in contact with the patient should be quarantined for a period of fourteen days from date of last contact. Adults should be allowed freedom of movement without restriction, provided they do not have further contact with the patient and are not engaged in an occupation bringing them in contact with children or food.
The attendant who takes care of the patient should wear a loose gown or kimono over her clothes while in the sick room. This should be removed before leaving the sick room. After caring for the patient she should wash her hands thoroughly with soap and water and rise them in a disinfecting solution before handling other children. The patient should have his own knives, forks and spoons which have been sterilized by boiling. When the patient is ready for release from isolation, he must be given a warm soap bath and freshly laundered clothes. The bed-linen should be disinfected and then laundered. The woolen blankets should be exposed to sunlight for several hours. All the wood-work of the sick room should be cleaned with a disinfecting solution. Clean the room as in "spring-cleaning" and open doors and windows to sunlight for a day.

SCHOOLS should not be closed during an epidemic but should remain open. In this way each child may be closely inspected. Any child showing abnormality should be placed under the care of a physician and health authorities notified at once.

Poliomyelitis is Decidedly a disease of warm weather


POLIOMYELITIS

FLORIDA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

POLIOMYELITIS (Infantile Paralysis)
What Is Poliomyelitis?

POLIOMYELITIS is an acute contagious disease occurring for the most part in children, although adults may occasionally have it. The disease occurs in several variable forms; the most commonly recognized form being the case that is sick from one to three days, resulting in paralysis. There is also a group of cases in which the infection does not terminate in paralysis. This group constitutes what are known as "non-paralytic" cases and may be divided into
first cases which present all of the symptoms of the paralytic form but do not result in paralysis.
second cases which do not present the usual symptoms of infantile paralysis but are mild illnesses occurring coincidental with frank cases, the so-called "abortive" form of poliomyelitis. Little is known of this form of the disease and the diagnosis is only presumptive.

POLIOMYELITIS (Infantile Paralysis)
What Causes Poliomyelitis?

POLIOMYELITIS is decidedly a disease of warm weather and is caused by a germ belonging to a group of infectious agents known as viruses. A virus is a germ too small to be seen with the aid of a microscope, but passes through a porous filter which prevents the passage of ordinary germs. The filtrate (liquid which passes through the filter) when injected into a susceptible animal, causes the disease.
THE GERMS of poliomyelitis are contained in the secretions from the nose and throat of the patient and are contracted by direct or indirect contact with the nose and throat secretions of a case of the disease, or a carrier of the disease. Since the bowel discharges have been recently found to contain the infectious agent, it seems likely that the infection may be disseminated through this medium.
THE INCUBATION PERIOD ... the time elapsing from exposure to the disease to the beginning of symptoms ... seven to fourteen days.

Symptoms

THE SYMPTOMS of poliomyelitis are not always clear-cut and the end results are not always the exact same since the disease occurs in several variable forms. The onset is usually sudden and the first symptoms to appears are headache, "upset stomach" and mild fever. The symptoms of "upset stomach" are fairly constant but not striking. The headache is limited to the forehead (frontal in character) and is persistent. Many of the children complain early of stiffness of the back and neck. The patient is, as a rule, markedly prostrated- much more than is to be expected, from the moderate fever. The face is flushed and the child is drowsy but he is easily aroused and is apprehensive when disturbed. In a number of cases a coarse tremor is noted when the patient tries to move his arms or legs.
THE outstanding finding is a stiffness of the neck when the chin is carried down to the chest and stiffness of the back when the trunk is carried down to the knees. The stiffness of the neck and back is so striking (and so characteristic a part of the early picture of the disease) that is can readily be detected on inspection. The child assumes a protective attitude, lying flat on his back with greatest comfort when without a pillow. The child gets up with considerable difficulty and this act is accomplished by a series of shifts from side to side, keeping the neck and back stiff while he gradually elevates the trunk on his supporting arms. The complete sitting position is not reached, the trunk remaining in a partially reclining position, supported by the backwardly extending arms, the hands resting on the bed. The position of the neck and spine is so straight that the term "poker spine" has been applied to it.

Susceptibility

INDIVIDUAL susceptibility to poliomyelitis is not well understood. The disease is one of low incidence and only a few children will contract poliomyelitis even though they are exposed to it. Two cases of poliomyelitis per 1,000 of the general population is considered a major epidemic. It is not known why an occasional individual contracts poliomyelitis when exposed to the disease while others do not. More than one case in a family rarely occurs. Any age may be affected, although children seem to be more susceptible as 65% of all the cases of infantile paralysis occur in children under five years of age and 95% of the cases occur in children under ten years of age; only 5% over ten, and these mostly between the ages of ten and twenty years.

Poliomyelitis occurs for the most part in CHILDREN under 10