The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

12 The Health Bulletin August, 1951include health administrators, epidemiologists,public health laboratory experts,public health nurses, health educators,biostatisticians, nutritionists, andindustrial and sanitary engineers. Forthe key administrative and professionalpositions, there is urgent need for physicianswho have the additional postgraduatetraining and experience requiredby the recently established AmericanBoard of Preventive Medicine andPublic Health. The training required isnow available only in the 10 accreditedschools of public health.At present these schools are graduatingonly about one-fifth of the specialistsneeded to fill key positions in thepeacetime civilian health program ofthe country. This makes it clear thatthe national emergency will call for therecruitment of many additional healthspecialists and for expansion of the facilitiesfor their postgraduate training.Although my subject has been militarypreventive medicine, I have dealth atsome length with civilian public healthbecause experience in both fields hastaught me that the two are fundamentallysimilar and interrelated. Theydiffer only in certain details of administrationand application. The expertin military preventive medicine andthe civilian public health specialist bothoperate by applying fundamental knowledgefor the prevention of disease intheir respective popi:ilations. They bothneed research aimed at the solution ofunsolved problems. Civilian health hasalways influenced military health, andthe reverse is also true. Today's emergency,which demands the mobilizationof the entire nation, brings the militarypreventive medicine specialist and thecivilian public health specialist moreclosely together than ever before.POLIOMYELITISBy W. Howard Wilson, M.D.Raleigh, N. C.In spite of the fact that it cripplesless than one-fiftieth as many people asrheumatic fever, and in spite of thefact that only one child in a millioncontracts it, poliomyelitis, or infantileparalysis, is one of the most feared ofall diseases. While the medical professionhas much knowledge of the wayin which it is spread, there is still muchmore to be learned. There is no cure inthe strict sense of the word, but thereis much that can be done by propertreatment.Our first line of defense against aninvasion of infantile paralysis is knowledge,from an inmiediate and practicalpoint of view, of what can be done toanticipate and prepare for an epidemicand of the precautions that should betaken at such a time. We also need furtherknowledge of the cause of infantileparalysis, its means of spread, andimproved methods of treatment. Newfacts have been learned and new methodshave been developed, but much stillremains to be done before infantileparalysis can be removed finally andcompletely from the list of great cripplingdiseases.The hot summer months are generallyregarded as the polio season, becausethe disease usually picks up momentumduring that season. Scientists cannotexplain why, but there are theories thatthe virus which causes polio spreadsmore rapidly when the weather is hot.So far there have been very few casesof poliomyelitis in Raleigh and WakeCounty this year.The modern term used by physiciansand other professional people is poliomyelitis,and this is often called poliofor the sake of brevity. PoliomyeUtisis aptly named, for polio means gray,myelos means spinal cord or marrow,and itis means inflammation. Inflammationof the gray matter of the centralnervous system is the characteristicnervous system abnormality of this disease.Infantile paralysis is the term