HEALΗ
DEPARTMENT
Springfield, Mass.
Anterior Poliomyelitis
(INFANTILE PARALYSIS)
This disease
contagious and is followed in a great many cases by paralysis of
Deformities with inability to use the arm or
arms, legs, or other parts of the body.
leg are liable to be permanent.
It attacks young children chiefly but adults are by no means exempt.
therefore of the utmost importance that you use every means possible in preventing
other children from contracting this disease.
No one will be allowed to see the patient except the necessary attendants and the
physician. The patient must be cared for in a room isolated from the other members
of the family during the entire period of isolation. Mild cases which are only sick for
a few days and do not show any definite paralysis are just as liable to convey the
infection as the more serious cases, and must be isolated for the full period. Every
case should remain under the care of your physician during the entire isolation period
which is four weeks from the date of notification sent to the Board of Health. Dis-
It is
infection will then follow and the card removed
If the regulations of the Board of Health are not observed and the patient for
any reason is not or cannot be properly isolated the Board may cause such patient to
be removed to the Isolation Hospital. The importance of obeying these instructions
cannot be overestimated as a large percentage of children who contract this disease
will be deformed or crippled for life with consequent inability to work or provide for
themselves.
It is a duty you owe to your children and those of your neighbors to exercise every
precaution in preventing the continuance and spread of this disease, and unless you
exert yourself in this matter an absolute quarantine of all cases of Anterior Poliomyelitis
will be declared by the Board of Health, which will inflict great hardship and distress
not only upon yourself but upon the entire city.
Human life is the most valuable asset we possess and it must be protected at
any cost.
