FIGHT ’56 POLIO EPIDEMICS NOW
By Hart E. Van Riper. M.D..
medical director National Foun
dation of Infantile Paralysis.
Almost all of us are infected by
the polio virus at one time or an
other. Generally, we don’t even
know we have the infection. We
may feel perfectly well, or we
may have a sore throat or an up
set stomach.
Sometimes however, the polio'
virus does serious damage. It
^attacks the central nervous sys
tem, destroying nerve cells and
causing paralysis,
causing paralysis. If almost
everyone is attacked by the vir
us, there must be an important
reason why some people succumb
and some do not. There is.
The critical battle in the fight
against polio takes place in the
bodies of human beings. It is a
battle between polio virus and
tiny particles, called antibodies,
which can destray the virus in
the blood stream.
When an individual is infected
by the polio virus, the virus en
ters his system and begins to
multiply. At th esame time, the
human system begins to produce
defensive antibodies
A race ensues. If the human
antibody factory works speedily
enough, antibodies destroy the
polio virus in the blood and keep
it from attacking nerve cells. If
the virus multiplies faster than
antibodies can be produced to
fight it, the virus overwhelms the
body’s defenses, attacks the ner
vous system and may cause par
alysis.
For nearly all of recorded his
tory men knew no way to in
fluence the critical battle of polio
within the human body. Then, in
1951 and 1952, research support
ed by the March of Dimes reveal
ed that antibodies from other
people’s blood — contained in
gamma globulin—could be “loan
r*
ed” to an individual by injection
and would give some protection
against paralytic polio. The loan
ed antibodies would last but a
few weeks. To be effective, they
had to be injected before or at
most within a few days after a
person was exposed to polio, and
it is not generally possible to tell
when this is. Obviously, gamma
globulin, while of value in epide
mic situations, was no final an
swer to the control of polio.
Now—'for the first time—we
have an effective means for con
trolling polio. The Salk vaccine,
in the most extensive and care
ful field trial ever given a vac
cine, was shown to be 60 to 90
per cent effective in preventing
paralytic polio. The vaccine now
being manufactured is even more
effective. In most parts of the
country we are now at the taper
ing-off part of the 1955 polio sea
son. We have the fall and win
ter months and early spring to
prepare for 1956. There is to
doubt that we have it in our
power greatly to reduce polio in
cidence next year. How well we
succeed will depend largely on
how many children receive vac
cine.
First, the vaccine must be
manufactured and distributed
During the fall and winter large
supplies will be made available
for use. It is too much to hope
that all of the 165,000,000 people
in the United States can be vac
cinated before next summer, but
many millions of children will
surely be innoculated, including
almost all in the highly suscep
tible five—through nine-year age
group.
Since polio attacks more chil
dren than adults, it is by vaccin
ating children that the greatest
effect can be achieved. Every
parent naturally has questions
about the vaccine. Formost is* the
question: Is the vaccine safe?
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!The answer is yes. Last spring,
according to a U. S. Public Health
Service report, live virus was
found in a small amount of vac
cine that had been released. More
stringent government safety
standards were promptly estab
lished to prevent a recurrence of
this incident.
The difficulties of a single
manufacturer do not reflect on
the safety of all commercially
produced vaccine, any more than
the existence of one contaminat
ed source of waiter suggests that
water itself is unsafe.
During the summer there have
been suggestions that a single
shot of the vaccine might give
some protection against paraly
tic polio, and parents may won
der if one injection is not enough.
The answer is that it is not
enough for full and lasting pro
tection.
Here is what happens when a
child is given vaccine. Some sev
en to 10 days after his first shot
he begins to develop polio-fight
ing antibodies. These help
strengthen his defenses against
paralytic polio. When he receives
his second shot, the number of
anitbodies again rises- Then, ap
proximately seven months later,
when he receives his third shot,
there is a further rise in antibo
dies, and he then has the full
protection of the vaccine.
Thus, the child with one shot
has some help in defending him
self against paralytic polio. The
►child with two has even more
help. The child with three, pro
perly spaced, has the full pro
tection of the vaccine.
Everyone would like to know
how long the effect of vaccine
lasts. No one can give a hard and
fast answer, because we have
not had the vaccine very long. A
number of children who have
received it will be followed
through the years until we do
know how long it protects. How
ever, because the level of pro
tection after the third shot is so
high, there is reason to hope that
it will last for many years. The
third shot is in a sense the real
key to the effectiveness of the
vaccine. This is why we will look
with growing interest toward the
1956 polio season.
This fall the vaccme program
of the NFIP will be concluded in
school clinics in all states. In
these clinics youngsters from the
first and second grades will re
ceive their second shots of vac
cine, and so will third and fourth
graders in schools that partici
pated in the 1954 field trials. No
first shots will be given.
The U. S Congress has appro
priated $30,000,000 for the pur
chase of polio vaccine during the
coming few months. Supplies of
vaccine are allocated to states on
the basis of the number of unvac
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High Profits Come
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Plant of Fertilizer
Will Increase Crop
The answer to high profits in
agriculture is greater yields per
acre. And the answer for greater
yields is, in a great measure, fer
tilizer.
One Illinois farmer grew 140
bushels of corn to the acre last
year for a net profit of $161.00
per acre. His fertilizer bill was
$29.10 per acre. On one field he
put 400 pounds of 0-48-0 and 400
pounds of 0-0-60, and 30 pounds of
ammonium nitrate.
Over - cultivation will cut corn
production, many experts report.
By plowing too often the farmer
prunes the plant roots which must
reach out for food. More and more
farmers are coming to the new
Plenty of the right kind of
fertilizer gave this field a good
start and will carry it through
to high production and high
profits.
idea of cultivating a corn crop
just once—when it is eight to ten
inches high.
To keep weeds under control
these farmers are turning to spray
ing.
One of the most important things
in raising corn is to know the lim
itations of the soil and treat it ac
cordingly. It should be tested each
year before fertilizer is applied.
And although fertilizer costs are
high, greater yields will off-set this
production cost.
cinated children five through
nine years of age- Each state is
responsible for the distribution of
the vaccine. Your local health of
ficer or personal physician will
be able to tell you what arrange
ments have been made in your
state.
The battle against polio in the
summer of 1956, so far as pre
vention is concerned, will be
won or lost this fall and winter.
Success will depend on how
many children are vaccinated. If
we vaccinate every youngster for
whom we have vaccine, next year
should begin to show a signifi
cant decrease in the number of
paralyzed children.
MATERIALS
for those
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Atlanta, Ga.—While visiting at
the home of a friend, Mrs. Ruby
Williams answered the door bell.
At the door was the postman,
wno Handed Mrs. Williams a cs
on which 2 cents postage v
due. Mrs. Williams gladly paic
it was the card she had mailed
the friend she was visiting.
OCTOBER 9 — 11 A.M.
'‘JEREMIAH, PHOPHET OF THE NEW
COVENANT"
10:00 Sunday School Classes for all ages.
7:00 Westminster Fellowship Groups meet.
. Rev- Brian H. Cleworth. Minister
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