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29
Although epidemics of infantile paralysis are rare in this
country, sporadic cases appear not infrequently. A certain
number recover completely, but a large proportion are left with
a more or less extensive paralysis, which may be a permanent
handicap. Fortunately much can be done to help these children
by early treatment of the paralysed muscles, and by late operations,
most of which aim at stabilising the joints at which there
is deficient muscular control.
So far, no entirely satisfactory method of preventing the
paralysis has been discovered. Serum treatment is still of
doubtful value, and vaccination against the disease has not yet
gone beyond the experimental stage.
(4) Girl, age 12, was admitted on 1.7-35 for amputation of
a deformed right fifth toe. She was discharged on 25.7.35.
(5) Girl, age 14. had an acute infection of the right knee
at the age of two. Several operations were performed at another
hospital and she was left with a stiff flexed knee. When seen at
the Clinic it was found that she had developed a curvature of
the spine, due to the deformity of the leg. She was admitted
on 25.7.35, and an operation was performed which gave her a
straight leg; in this way the curvature of the spine has been
corrected. She was finally discharged on 29.11.35.
(6) Girl, age 6\, was born with a right congenital club foot.
She had been treated elsewhere early in life and the deformity
had been corrected apart from a turning in of the forefoot. This
is not a serious residual deformity, but it gives the gait an
awkward appearance, and may cause the child to stumble when
walking. She was admitted on 7.8.35 and an operation was
performed which resulted in complete correction of the deformity.
She was discharged in plaster on 30.10.35, re-admitted for her
final treatment on 9.12.35, and discharged on 3.2.36.
(7) Girl, age 8, injured the right elbow at the age of three.
She recovered with a good range of flexion and extension, but
pronation and supination were abolished as a result of fusion
between the upper ends of the radius and ulna. An attempt was
made to correct this bv operation in 1931, but without success.
Later, the parents were anxious that something more should be
done, and the child was readmitted on 30.10.35. After complete