I. POLIOMYELITIC VIRUS IN HUMAN STOOLS.
1. The detection of the virus of poliomyelitis in 10 stools from 8 individuals is reported. All were in relation to epidemic poliomyelitis and 7 of them represented well recognized forms of the disease. The positive stools were distributed among 56 specimens collected from 53 persons in the first 4 weeks of illness. 2. The ease of detection of virus was directly related to the non-paralytic type of disease and inversely related to the age of the patients. 3. The negative results with stools employed for controls gives point to the use of the fecal examinations as an epidemiological tool. 4. The stability of the virus in feces has been demonstrated by successful mailing of samples over long distances and during the heat of summer. 5. At least one infective dose per gram of fecal material was extracted from one stool.
Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine of the Yale University School of Medicine, and the Pediatric and the Medical Services of the New Haven Hospital and Dispensary, New Haven.
J D
JD
Trask
J R
JR
Paul
A J
AJ
Vignec