An Enterodepressant Factor in the Stools and Spinal Cords of Monkeys Infected With Poliomyelitis

In another communication1one of us (J. A. T.) called attention to the presence of what was thought to be a toxic factor in the stools of persons with poliomyelitis. From the histories given by patients and from clinical experimental evidence, it has also been suggested that as the intestine became involved and the urinary bladder became paralyzed before somatic paralysis occurred, the paralysis was at first peripheral and not central in origin.2 Experiments were performed (1) to ascertain whether virus acts directly on the gastro-intestinal tract, and if so, what effect neutralization by convalescent serum had on such action; (2) to find out if the stools of monkeys paralyzed by the virus of poliomyelitis contained an enterodepressant factor that was not present before the disease developed, and (3) to determine the effect of suspensions of stools obtained from persons with other diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract. METHODS