OCCURRENCE OF POLIOMYELITIS IN RELATION TO TONSILLECTOMIES AT VARIOUS INTERVALS

Abstract

Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease, and most persons have had it in a subclinical form by the time they become adults.¹Recognizable or paralytic cases are relatively few, and the ratio of subclinical to clinical infections is estimated at upwards of 100 to 1. Little that we know concerning the disease affords a satisfactory answer to this phenomenon. Lacking a satisfactory explanation with respect to parasite factors, some have sought an explanation in predisposing causes, and for the last three decades or more emphasis has been placed on what Aycock²called autarceologic factors, by which is meant those physiological influences that condition a person to infection with the virus. Evidence has slowly been accumulating to show that factors other than exposure to the virus are operative. Thus, the effect of stress or trauma,³physical activity,⁴body type,⁵endocrine changes,⁶dietary deficiencies,⁷pregnancy,⁸