FROM THE ARCHIVES:Polio was one of the most feared childhood diseases of the mid-20th century, as epidemics in Ireland followed each other regularly over a 15-year period before it was controlled by a newly-developed vaccine. This report appeared as there was a serious outbreak in Cork. – JOE JOYCE
An article in the September issue of the Journal of the Irish Medical Association deals with the poliomyelitis epidemic in Cork. It concludes by saying: “Is it too much to expect that, when the next epidemic season [summer/autumn] approaches, at least the more susceptible age groups of the population will have already received prophylactic vaccination against poliomyelitis and that the resulting immunity will be sufficient to form a protective barrier against any invasive strain of the polio virus?”
The article states that the annual visitations, in epidemic proportions, of this virus disease first began in this country less than 15 years ago, and since then minor outbreaks have been occurring each year, with major exacerbations of the disease about every third year.
With the exception of the outbreak last autumn, an unusually virulent type confined mainly to the northeast and southeast, the disease generally has been a mild one.
“Few medical conditions arouse more public anxiety and fear, especially among parents, than does poliomyelitis. The uncertainty of time and place of attack . . . the mystery which still surrounds its propagation, the absence of any specific cure, or of any positive means of avoiding infection, and the permanent disabilities which it may leave in its wake, and weighing heavily on the personal and family life of its victims, contribute, in no small way, to this excessive public anxiety, and make poliomyelitis one of the most dreaded of the infectious diseases today.
“A consoling feature of the recent large outbreak in Cork is the apparent mildness of the infection, confined mainly to the younger age groups, and associated with a relatively high incidence of non-paralytic cases and a low incidence of the more fatal bulbar and bulbo-spinal types. The wisdom of providing special centres – in which staff and beds are readily available to deal with sudden outbreaks – is now very apparent. [ . . . ]
“In an attempt to alleviate excessive fear . . . it would be more desirable, from the public health view, if the press. . . devoted more space to certain precautionary measures which parents should adopt in an effort to limit the spread of infection. Such measures are the isolation in bed of any child showing symptoms of the minor illness, or, of some undetermined fever; the curtailing of the physical activity of children in times of epidemic; stressing the importance of limiting faecal infection by washing the hands before meals and after . . . and, when a case occurs in a household, the isolation of contacts for two to three weeks, as far as is practicable from other children and young adults.”