Science Has Weapons for the Battle With This Year's Poliomyelitis
Epidemics; New Vaccines Are Undergoing Their First Critical Tests
Gatherings of persons over the State should be stopped. at once," exclaimed
Dr. Carl V. Reynolds, Secretary of the State Board of Health of
North Carolina, as he surveyed, last week, the mounting toll of the poliomyelitis
epidemic which started two months ago in the east-central section of his star
Up to July 6, 312 cases had been reported since January 1. Sixty-one of the State's 100 counties had been visited. by the disease; fourteen children had lost their lives,scores were paralyzed.
Tho some fifteen cases appeared earlier, the real outburst began in May; when there were forty-four new cases. In June, there were 198, and, to July 6 fifty-five more. Fifty-eight cases have been reported in neighboring counties in Virginia, but the westward spread of the epidemic apparently has been checked.
Nearly a month ago, the United StatesPublic Health Service recognized the coming epidemic and sent Dr. A. G. Gilliam to the scene. Last week, Dr. W. P. Dearing, another Public Health Service physician, was sent to North Carolina from Boston.
The Public Health Service campaign against the epidemic was directed from Washington
by Dr. James P. Leake, veteran of more than twenty-five years of battle against
poliomyelitis. Last week, he, too, went to the scene. All three of these physicians
took part against infantile paralysis in the 1934 epidemic, at Los Angeles.
Test of Vaccines
Last year, toward the end of the California epidemic, the Health Service admininstered
doses of one of the new poliomyelitis Vaccines developed in New York City by
Dr. Maurice Brodie and Dr. William H. Park. This year, more than 3,000
doses already have been given to children in the epidemic districts of North
Carolina.
The California test was too brief to be conclusive; this summer's outbreaks
of poliomyelitis are expected to settle the question whether the new vaccine
is useful in meeting the danger of infantile paralysis. The Public Health
Service is offering the vaccine without charge to those who want to be
inoculated, after explaining that it has not been established whether those
who receive it will acquire immunity. The vaccine is not a cure or treatment;
it is preventive only, and must be administered to children before symptoms
of the disease appear.
The vaccine is made from the crushed cords of rhesus monkeys infected with the
disease. All traces of the virus which cause Poliomyelitis is killed in the
cordsubstance by treating it with a 10 per cent solution of formalin. The vaccine
can not possibly give the disease to children; the experiment conseqently is
perfectly safe.
Dr. William H.Park, left, and Dr. Maurice Brodie, whose
work has been an important factor in the battle against infantile paralysis
The theory is that the killed virus will nevertheless cause the body to create antibodies, which give immunity from living virus.
One difficulty is the cost of the vaccine. Rhesus monkeys cost $6 delivered wholesale in New York (they come from India). Each monkey will yield about ten doses, and two doses are needed for each child, presumably, making him immune for a period of six months.
The cost of making the vaccine, aside from the price of the monkeys, brings the total for each dose to nearly $1.75.
The vaccine is being made in the laboratory of the New York. Department of Health, under the supervision of Doctor Brodie.
The necessary funds are coming partly from the Warm Springs Foundation, in which President Roosevelt, himself a sufferer from infantile paralysis at the age of forty, is the moving spirit. The rest is being contributed by the Rockefeller Foundation and the New York Foundation.
The demand for vaccine is taxing the capacity of the laboratories. At present only approximately 350 monkeys can be handled each month.
Arrangements are being made to increase the facilities until 15,000 doses can be produced every thirty days. Agents in India have agreed to ship 500 monkeys a' month for the next three months; more, later, if the demand continues.
Other Weapons
In addition to the Brodie-Park vaccine, other scientific weapons recently developed in the battle against poliomyelitis include:
1. A vaccine, developed by Dr. John H. Kolmer of Temple University, Philadelphia. It also is being used in large quantities in North Carolina. Doctor Kolmer's vaccine differs from the Brodie-Park vaccine in that the virus is not quite killed--only stunned by chemical treatment. Some authorities believe it may produce a more lasting immunity because of this feature.
2. The "brain-bath," technically known as "forced perivascular drainage of the central nervous system." This is a highly experimental treatment for children with poliomyelitis and similar diseases that affect the brain and spinal cord.
It is being developed by Dr. George M. Retan, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Syracuse University School of Medicine, Syracuse, New York. By introducing a weak salt solution into the blood-stream, Doctor Retan lowers the osmotic pressure, permitting more fluids to bathe the cells of the central nervous system.
These fluids are drawn off by tapping the spinal canal. The method still is in the laboratory stage; its value still has to be proved on a large scale. Doctor Retan recently reported success in treating several human cases, as well as animal ones.
3. The "iron lung"--apparatus which continually applies artificial respiration in cases where paralysis attacks the chest muscles, and victims can not breathe without aid. This device has saved many lives.
A preventive treatment much used two or three years ago--the injection of "Convalescent serum" from persons who had survived the disease, is not now in so much favor. Tests have indicated that the slight immunity provided by such injections is not usually sufficient to prevent infection.