Gastrointestinal hemorrhage as a complication of poliomyelitis.

Abstract

DURING the summer and fall of 1952 this community was the center of a severe epidemic of poliomyelitis. The Chelan and Douglas County health departments received reports of 172 cases (the 1950 census for Chelan County was 39,301, and for Douglas County 10,817). Records at the Central Washington Deaconess Hospital, which included patients from other counties, revealed 148 bed patients; 29 outpatients not hospitalized; 16 respirator patients, of which there were 7 at one time; 54 suspects (not proved), and 8 patients who died. Of these eight, five patients presented as a terminal complication gastrointestinal hemorrhage. The case reports follow. Case 1. —A 6-year-old white boy was admitted on Sept. 4 with a history of listlessness, fever (temperature up to 103 F.), and a headache of three days' duration. Penicillin was given the day prior to admission. Initial physical examination in the hospital revealed a listless, drowsy child with marked