‖ poliomyelitis Path.
(ˌpɒlɪəʊmaɪəˈlaɪtɪs, ˈpəʊlɪəʊ-)
[mod.L., f. Gr. πολιό-ς grey + µυελός marrow + -itis.]
A disease caused by a neurotropic virus (infection with which usu. produces no symptoms) which may give rise to a temporary meningitis, with fever and delirium, or, esp. in older patients, a permanent and sometimes fatal localized paralysis as a result of the infection and death of groups of nerve cells in the spinal cord or brain stem. Also attrib.
| 1878 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. LXXV. 411 The case was..one of acute polio-myelitis. 1880 A. Flint Princ. Med. 747 Anterior poliomyelitis, signifying inflammation of the anterior gray substance. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 798 The facial nucleus was affected by acute poliomyelitis. 1934 R. W. Fairbrother Handbk. Filterable Dis. vi. 95 The poliomyelitis virus only produces spontaneous disease in man. 1955 [see infantile paralysis s.v. infantile a. 3]. 1966 Wright & Symmers Systemic Path. II. xxxiv. 1192/2 The non⁓paralytic form of poliomyelitis—the main symptoms of which are those of catarrhal inflammation of the upper parts of the respiratory and alimentary tracts—is the commonest manifestation of the infection during epidemics. 1972 B. A. Curtis et al. Introd. Neurosci. viii. 186/1 The majority of patients with poliomyelitis virus infection make a complete or significant recovery. Ibid. xxii. 590/1 With the development of effective vaccines..poliomyelitis has become a preventable disease. |
Hence
ˌpoliomyeˈlitic a., of or affected with poliomyelitis. Also
poliomyeˈlopathy,
Path. [
-pathy], any disease of the grey matter of the spinal cord.
| 1911 Jrnl. Exper. Med. XIV. 117 Flexner and Clark showed that the *poliomyelitic virus would survive for a period of days in the subcutaneous tissues of the rabbit. 1940 Ann. Reg. 1939 376 Evidence suggested that polio⁓myelitic virus may occur in urban sewage. 1958 Jrnl. Bone & Joint Surg. XL. a. 513 In a few convalescent polio⁓myelitic patients..the Milwaukee brace has aided in reducing the curve and holding it in check until muscle balance has been re-established. 1971 Biol. Abstr. LII. 10390/1 (heading) Study of the circulation of poliomyelitic and other enteric viruses in waste water. |
| 1890 in Billings Med. Dict., *Poliomyelopathy. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 495 The so-called system diseases; such as ascending and descending lateral sclerosis..the poliomyelopathies. Ibid. 502 Nuclear lesions or poliomyelopathies..are often the starting points of such secondary degenerations. |