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5
Poliomyelitis.
During the year there were 12 cases of poliomyelitis and of these,
8 had paralytic symptoms and 4 were of the non-paralytic type.
The two most seriously ill patients were both adult males aged 52
and 26 years respectively. They made satisfactory progress after
lengthy treatment. The first case occurred on the 10th July and
between that date and the 7th August, 7 of the cases had occurred
and of these, 5 were paralytic and quite seriously ill. This number
of cases so early in the season was rather alarming and suggested the
possibility of a serious outbreak in the district.
Accordingly, certain preventive measures were taken, such as
cancelling temporarily immunization against diphtheria and whooping
cough, and deferring non-urgent operations on the nose and
throat.
It so happened that only 5 more cases occurred, the onset of the
last of these being the 28th October.
Efforts were made to trace the source of infection in each of these
cases but with no success. Two children who developed the disease
early lived in the same street but the families were not known to one
and other. Otherwise, cases were scattered throughout the Borough
and there was not more than one case from any one school.
One child was diagnosed as suffering from acute poliomyelitis
when under observation in a childrens' ward at a General Hospital.
She was immediately transferred to an isolation hospital, but of
course, all other children in the ward were close contacts. Admissions
to the ward were stopped and the other children were returned
home as soon as possible. They were all kept under observation
but fortunately, there were no further cases amongst them.
There seems little doubt that when cases of poliomyelitis occur in
a district there is an increased "healthy carrier" rate amongst the
population. At these times, parents would do well if they saw that
their children had plenty of fresh air by day and by night, and
avoided excessive fatigue. As far as possible they should be kept
out of crowded stuffy atmospheres and should not be taken into
cinemas, large stores, etc.