PROGRESS IN ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY FOR 1942: A REVIEW PREPARED BY AN EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEONS; V. INFANTILE PARALYSIS

V. INFANTILE PARALYSIS PREPARED BY LENOX D. BAKER, M.D., AND HOWARD SCHAUBEL, M.D., DURHAM, N. C.

Introduction.  —During these times of war and in the presence of much argument in the lay press as to the therapy of infantile paralysis, it is encouraging to review the excellent studies which have been reported during 1942 on the causation, epidemiology, means of transmission and true pathogenesis of poliomyelitis. Certainly the workers behind the scenes are to be commended for their untiring efforts to establish means of controlling the disease.

Causation, Transmission and Epidemiology.  —McClure and Langmuir¹⁰² report the recovery of poliomyelitis virus from the feces of 4 of 5 patients with acute poliomyelitis in a rural community in the state of New York and from the feces of 20 of 27 contacts of the patients. They did not recover the virus from the feces of 4 persons who had histories of having had poliomyelitis in the past or from the feces of 4 persons in the same community who