POLIOMYELITIS FOLLOWING RECENT MEASLES

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Abstract
Fifty-seven cases of paralytic poliomyelitis, with nine deaths, occurred in the Ashkelon district of Israel in 1958. Of these, 15 cases in patients under 4 years of age, with 4 deaths, were found to have been concentrated in the small Even-Shmuel area, which had a total of only 381 children in this age group. The high selective incidence of poliomyelitis in two of the settlements in this area, Eytan and Uza (76 per 1,000 under 4 years), stood out in contrast to neighboring and other points of settlement, where the incidence was about six to seven times lower. Data on the clinical diagnosis, virology, Salk and other inoculations and injections, as well as nutritional and possible ethnic factors, were carefully considered in an attempt to understand the reason for this concentration. The major finding was that 12 of the 15 children with poliomyelitis had had severe measles some weeks previously. Clinical and epidemiologic data suggesting an association between the two illnesses are discussed. The scanty literature on an association between measles and poliomyelitis is reviewed.
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