DOES AN ATTACK OF ACUTE ANTERIOR POLIOMYELITIS CONFER ADEQUATE IMMUNITY?

Abstract

The common communicable diseases usually are followed by permanent immunity. However, second attacks occasionally occur. They are most frequent in scarlet fever and diphtheria, less common in mumps and, after an interval of years, in whooping cough. In measles, smallpox and chickenpox they are rare. Second attacks of poliomyelitis have been recorded infrequently in the literature.¹We have been able to collect thirteen instances which we considered authentic (table 1, cases 1 to 13). In all these, both attacks were of the paralytic type. Because of insufficient or unobtainable data, we classified as doubtful five cases of poliomyelitis (table 1, cases 21 to 25) which had been previously reported as second attacks. The details of cases 14 and IS were supplied by du Busc and Harmon. The report of case 16 had never been published by Neal. In 1935 four second attacks of poliomyelitis were seen in New York City, three (cases 17, 18 and 19) by members of the Meningitis Division of the Laboratories of the New York City Department of Health,²and one (case 20) by us. These four are being