Editor, New Orleans States:
The news article in your issue of September 17 quoting Dr. George W. McCoy, director of public health of Louisiana State medical school, regarding the polio situation needs clarification by the noted professor. I am sure the public is confused after 'reading, this masterpiece as it is certain ly. not clear to the medical profession.
The eminent doctor states that 60 days following throat operations children are . more susceptible. I believe he will admit that many prominent investigators believe that the disease is acquired through the gastro-in.testinal system (stomach or intestinal tract) and not through the throat. A. news article on the front page of The Times-Picayune of September 17 stated that monkeys are tb be imported from the Philippines and fed infected food to see if they would acquire polio.
The learned doctor probably refers to the experiments where laboratory animals had their throats sprayed or painted with infected material from polio, cases and acquired the disease. I believe the professor will admit that the experimental animals did not have their aesophagus tied off or blocked and the infected material could have passed into the stom ach and intestines and the disease developed via that route.
The eminent doctor is directly quoted as stating that 259 cases of the bulbar type followed tonsil-lectomies between 1910 and 1943. That means there was an average of about nine a year in the entire United States which is certainly not high. I wonder if the able professor would inform the pub* lie just how many children developed the bulbar type during the same 33 years following appendectomies, circumcisi ons, tooth extractions and other op* erative procedures.
Whether flies or other insects play a major role after the disease has started, I do not know. I believe if they were a factor in starting the disease they would not retire from the job just because the disease had gotten a good start.
I believe if the noted scientist had warned the public about the danger of children going in swimming pools, crowded gatherings, etc, he would have rendered a distinct service to the public rather than trying to frighten them about a matter (throat operations) that the medical profession is divided on. Certainly nine bulbar cases in the entire United States a year following tonsiUectomJes is not high. Probably more people than that died each year from holding their breath.
The picture of our late President Franklin Roosevelt being shown as a victim of polio and the annual March of Dimes have served to make the public polio conscious. Of course, it will be a great help to the entire public and medical profession to learn how the disease is transmitted and how to control it. Until Dr. McCoy has better knowledge as to the means of transmission he certainly shquld reserve his remarks for medical publications.
