Experimental Poliomyelitis: Evidence of Early Involvement of Central Nervous System

Abstract

The epidemic of poliomyelitis in New York and New England in 1931 presented an opportunity for controlled studies1, 2 to determine the value of convalescent and other immune serums, administered in the preparalytic stage of the disease. In these reports the authors were unable to present statistical evidence that such serums were of value, either in reducing the death rate or in preventing paralysis. Since experience with virus diseases indicates that little is to be expected from the use of immune serums, once the disease has become established in the organism, it becomes important to determine the extent of involvement, particularly of the central nervous system, in the preparalytic stage of poliomyelitis.In this study, an effort was made to determine the early pathology in the experimental disease, following intranasal instillations of the virus. The close analogy between experimental poliomyelitis and the human disease should make any findings in the former significant in their application to the latt...