Poliomyelitis (more commonly, polio) is an infectious diseases that involves the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system, which particularly affects children. In serious cases the infection leads to varying degrees of paralysis. Polio cannot be treated, but since the late 1950s has been eradicated in many parts of the world through the introduction of vaccination.
Cerebro-spinal fever is now more commonly known as meningitis (spinal meningitis). It is a severe bacterial infection of the bloodstream and meninges (a thin lining covering the brain and spinal cord). It became a notifiable disease in Britain in 1912.