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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 1953)
Scientists Mad Much To Learn In Exhaustive Study of Polio (Editor! note! Following Is - the last ia a taries of articles prepared by the National Foundation for Infantile Par- alysis concerning gamma glob alia and the foundation'! steps toward control of polio.) Pursuit of a control for paraly tic Dolio began in earnest in 1938. But the road that led to gamma globulin started in a bog of misconceptions, then twisted and turned uphill all the way to the field trials of Provo. Utah; Houston, Tex., and Sioux City, la. Scientists who sought to knock tho paralysis out of polio had much to learn, and much to un learn. They did know that polio waa caused by a virus. But in 1938. when the National Found ation for Infantile Paralysis was born, the virology of polio was still in swaddling clothes, Relatively few workers were qualified to conduct investiga tions in the polio field. Their tools were crude; their finances meager. Serious misconceptions inher ited by March of Dimes-supported scientists included the belief that the virus reproduces itself only in nerve cells and that it enters the body through the nose and mouth and then travels through the body only within nerve fibers. So, beginning literally behind scratch, the National Foundation went to work to encourage and finance the training of more workers as well as to support basic research. Paralysis Rare Exception In time, these scientists learned that symptoms of polio might extend from a slight fever to paralysis or death. They learned, in fact, that a nonclini- eal or "silent" infection was the rule and paralysis the rare exception. They learned that it was the digestive tract of man that served as the main portal of entry and exit for the virus; that man himself not flies or cockroaches or bananas was the chief reservoir of the virus; they learned the interesting fact that persons living in unsanitary, but apparently polio-free parts Of the world, invariably had polio antibodies in their blood acquired from polio infections at an early age. Much excitement was caused by the discovery that polio virus in the presence of specific anti body was incapable of causing the paralytic disease. This sug gested that the role of antibodies might be employed in develop ing methods of polio control. Time for Direct Attack Throughout these years, most experiments with polio were carried out on rats, mice and a few monkeys. By 1948, with much of the underbrush of con fusion cleared away, scientists supported by the March of Dimes had developed sufficient basic information and more critical tests of investigation to permit truly scientific techniques and a more direct attack on the goal of research a method for the control of polio. To make an adequate number of properly conditioned monkeys available for such experimenta tion, and to assure delivery of uniform animals to each labora tory so that the work of one la boratory could be compared with the work of any other, the National Foundation established a monkey-conditioning center. The center provided housing for 3,000 monkeys. The supply and distribution system delivered to March of Dimes grantees more than 20,000 monkeys annually. This operation made possible J many studies that have brought us to the point we have reacned today. - More Than One Virus Type At the beginning of this era, scientists bad reason to suspect that human poliomyelitis might be caused by more than one type of virus. No problem has been of greater basic importance than the establishment of this fact Any hope of controlling polio with preventive or curative drugs or vaccines demanded that science first find put exact ly how many different viruses cause polio in humans. The solution necessitated the monotonous repetition of the same technical procedures over and over again for three solid years. But at a cost of 1,370,000 March of Dimes dollars, the problem was solved. Findings re vealed that there are three dif ferent types of polio virus. Sci entists found that infection by one does not give immunity W the two remaining types. ' We recall now the discovery that polio antibodies are present at an early age in the blood of persons living in the relatively unsanitary parts of the world where epidemic polio seldom strikes. We remember that such antibodies also are found in the blood of most adults, no matter where they live. These antibodies have been found in the blood of monkeys, after recovering from polio or after vaccination against it. Since these antibodies in the blood are associated with im munity, it was of real import ance to determine whether they form an essential link in the pro tection against paralysis, or whether they are a nonuseful by product of infection. A number of animal experi ments followed. From these, sci entists concluded that, if enough the blood before infection, par alysis often could be entirely prevented. This was the result in the lab oratory. The next question Will these antibodies protect hu man beings against paralysis? . Fortunately, other workers bad already succeeded in ex tracting these antibodies from blood. This product, gamma glob ulin (also called immune serum globulin), had already proven effective against measles and in fectious hepatitis. The Red Cross made this material available to polio researchers for the conduct of human field trials. Human Tests Begun As soon as gamma globulin could be made ready for use In, the field, a March of Dimes grantee began tests among 35,000 children in Provo, Hous ton and Sioux City. These tests yielded two im portant results: (a) an agent which, if it could be made avail able in sufficient quantity, man could use to protect himself tern porarily against paralytic polio, and (b) a vastly important re sult the knowledge that 'this protection could be attributed to antibodies circulating in the blood in such small amounts that they were barely detectable. The bright promise of this achievement was dimmed by the fact that the protection is tem porary and, even so, not nearly enough gamma globulin exists to inoculate everyone suscepti ble to the disease. The Office of Defense Mobilization has under taken the difficult Job of allocat ing the limited supply during the coming months. And, too, since gamma globulin gives protection against polio paralysis only for about five weeks, it is not the iinai answer. A practical vac cine, giving longer-lasting im munity, remains the goal of sci- poilo antibodies are .present in t ence in its fight to control polio. Around Hollywood By AUNE MOSSY (Jakes' fran CiniiiissiM (Editor's note: Vernon Scott United Press Hollywood report er, is substituting for Aline Mosby while she is vacationing.) Hollywood M.10 The bibli cal bug has bitten everyone in Hollywood from DeMille to Zan- uck. Now actor Tony Curtis wants in on the act. The dark-eyed 'teen age idol who catapulted to fame in a few short years would like to play David, Israel's second king. Tony, however, dotfsn't want to follow in Gregory Peck's foot steps, portraying a mature mon arch with a harem full of sloe eyed wives. "I'd like to bring the charact er of David, the boy, to the screen," he said enthusiastically. "My story would begin with the youth living in the clouds with a mind for nothing but poetry. Great Climax "It would be great," he said. "Just imagine the climax with David slaying Goliath." Tony was reminded such a story would leave little room for romance. But the youthful actor straightened that out, too. "There was an innocent love affair in David's life," he ex plained. "The young daughter of King Saul fell in love with David the first time she saw him, but it was heroworship, sweet and naive." Tony said he's all for a con tinued change of pace in his movie roles. "I just finished work in Beachhead,' the first really rug ged role I ever played. In the picture I'm one of two surviving marines who land on a Jap-held South Pacific island during World War II. "But the story is so brassy and earthy," he grinned, "my romance with Mary Murphy is subordinate 'to the brutality of the film. "One night some of the 'Beach head' cast and crew started a game of charades," he recalled. "Mary Murphy made a stance, held out her hands as if she were aiming a slingshot and almost everyone shouted at once: David!' Re-Read Story "It started me thinking. David was not only romantic and dra matic, but one of the best known and most easily recognized char acters in fact and fiction. That night I re-read his story in the Old Testament and by morning the idea was born. Now all I have to do is convince Uni versal-International to let me make the picture." . Phoenix Schools Schedule Opening On September 14 Phoenix Phoenix schools, both elementary and high, will open on Monday, September 14, according to an announcement by E. R. James, superintendent of schools. The superintendent said buses will run on the same schedule as last year and he re minded parents of first grade pupils to bring their child's birth certificate and health certificate with them the first day of school- Teachers will report September 8 for organizational meetings. The office of Grade Principal John Myers will be open the week of September 7. Students new to the Phoenix high school are asked to register at the high school office the week of September 1 to 5. Former high school students and incom ing ninth graders from the Phoenix grade school have al ready registered for their pro grams of studies and need not appear until September 14. On September 14, high school stu dents are to report at the high school gym for the opening as sembly at' 9 a m. Following the assembly they will obtain their daily program of studies, secure their books, pay their school fees and attend classes. Regular classes will get under way the following day. Two New Teachers Two new grade teachers have been elected for the coming year, Mrs. Jane Germer, to teach first grade and Mrs. Katharine Stancliffe, to teach the eighth grade. New high school teachers vill be Byron Backes, social studies, and Ernest Skipwortb, mathematics and science- . The school cafeteria will be gin serving meals on Tuesday, September 15. Classrooms and corridors have been redecorated and the grade school gym and cafeteria re painted during the summer. Old locker facilities have been re nlaced bv new lockers at the high school. Mrs. Marie Fisher has been employed as school secretary in the high school office. It requires a heat of 73,500 de grees centigrade to melt a diamond. Rent a Brand New Gulbransn Spinet . 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