Observations on Fecal Examinations in Poliomyelitis

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal washings of polio patients are positive for only the first 48 hrs. of the disease; the stools remain positive for a matter of days, weeks, and occasionally even months. Stools are positive in both the paralytic and abortive cases. Recently, during epidemics of the disease in Charleston, N. C, and Detroit, Mich. the virus was recovered from the sewage close to the isolation hospitals. Polluted water ways might be a source of the virus. But the route of infection from water to cases is unknown. There is evidence that poliomyelitis is not water-borne in the usual meaning of the term.