Page:Acute Poliomyelitis.djvu/18

10 minute staining bodies oval form. Romer and Joseph have found in examining these nitrates (Berkfeld) by means of the ultramicroscope, extremely small round oval bodies which were not demonstrable in the nitrates from normal spinal cords. Benecke, and Krause and Meinecke have also published similar results which they obtained in working with the blood of infected children. The results of experimental research in pathogenesis and other matters will be dealt with later.

Predisposing Factors.— From our experience of conditions in epidemics and from the results of experimental research, we are compelled to regard Heine-Medin's disease as a specific infection. A number of cases have been observed in which the disease has developed during the course of a common infectious malady. It is extremely probable that such cases are merely coincidences, and that the infectious malady is to be regarded in them only as an agent in the production of the favorable moment for the poliomyelitis invasion.

There is practically only one predisposing factor—the age. As is emphasized in the name, infantile paralysis, the disease usually attacks children. In order to show the incidence of the disease at different age periods, I shall quote some figures from various epidemics:—

Leegaard during the two epidemics he reported found the following figures:—