As the annual harvesttime outbreak of poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis) neared its peak last week, rumors of an epidemic swept southern and eastern U.S. They were exaggerated. Nowhere did the disease reach epidemic proportions. Hundreds of cases were reported (as against only two cases of plague—see col. 1). But hundreds of cases are not abnormal at this time of year. Facts:
> In Pennsylvania 250 persons were stricken during the summer; 18 died. In some places local authorities banned gatherings of young people, postponed the opening of public schools.
> In New Jersey, 84 cases were reported since the beginning of August. Health officers from the entire State were mobilized. Equipment was concentrated at Bergen County’s isolation hospital, Bergen Pines. In Hackensack, swimming pools were closed.
In many cities health officers warned parents to put their children to bed if they showed the slightest symptoms of colds, stiff necks or bellyaches. For the polio virus seems to spread through the nervous system when children take strenuous exercise.
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