Outlines of Dairy Bacteriology Part 8

The question of prime importance is, whether the bovine type is transmissible to the human or not. Artificial inoculation of cattle with tuberculous human sputum as well as pure cultures of this variety show that the human type is able to make but slight headway in cattle. This would indicate that the danger of cattle acquiring the infection from man would in all probability be very slight, but these experiments offer no answer as to the possibility of transmission from the bovine to the human. Manifestly it is impossible to solve this problem by direct experiment upon man except by artificial inoculation, but comparative experiments upon animals throw some light on the question.

Theo. Smith[81] and others[82] have made parallel experiments with animals such as guinea pigs, rabbits and pigeons, inoculated with both bovine and human cultures of this organism. The results obtained in the case of all animals tested show that the virulence of the two types was much different, but that the bovine cultures were much more severe.

While of course this does not prove that transmission from bovine to human is possible, still the importance of the fact must not be overlooked.

In a number of cases record of accidental infection from cattle to man has been noted.[83] These have occurred with persons engaged in making post-mortem examinations on tuberculous animals, and the tubercular nature of the wound was proven in some cases by excision and inoculation.

In addition to data of this sort that is practically experimental in character, there are also strong clinical reasons for considering that infection of human beings may occur through the medium of milk.

Naturally such infection should produce intestinal tuberculosis, and it is noteworthy that this phase of the disease is quite common in children especially between the ages of two and five.[84] It is difficult to determine, though, whether primary infection occurred through the intestine, for, usually, other organs also become involved.

In a considerable number of cases in which tubercular infection by the most common channel, inhalation, seems to be excluded, the evidence is strong that the disease was contracted through the medium of the milk, but it is always very difficult to exclude the possibility of pulmonary infection.

Tuberculosis as a bovine disease has increased rapidly during recent decades throughout many portions of the world. This has been most marked in dairy regions. Its extremely insidious nature does not permit of an early recognition by physical means, and it was not until the introduction of the tuberculin test[85] in 1892, as a diagnostic aid that accurate knowledge of its distribution was possible. The quite general introduction of this test in many regions has revealed an alarmingly large percentage of animals as affected. In Denmark in 1894 over forty per cent were diagnosed as tubercular. In some parts of Germany almost as bad a condition has been revealed. Slaughter-house statistics also show that the disease has increased rapidly since 1890.

In this country the disease on the average is much less than in Europe and is also very irregularly distributed. In herds where it gained a foothold some years ago, often the majority of animals are frequently infected; many herds, in fact the great majority, are wholly free from all taint. The disease has undoubtedly been most frequently introduced through the purchase of apparently healthy but incipiently affected animals. Consequently in the older dairy regions where stock has been improved the most by breeding, more of the disease exists than among the western and southern cattle.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 21: Front view of a tuberculous udder, showing extent of swelling in single quarter.]

~Infectiousness of milk of reacting animals.~ Where the disease appears in the udder the milk almost invariably contains the tubercle organism.

Under such conditions the appearance of the milk is not materially altered at first, but as the disease progresses the percentage of fat generally diminishes, and at times in the more advanced stages where the physical condition of the udder is changed (Fig. 21), the milk may become "watery"; but the percentage of animals showing such udder lesions is not large, usually not more than a few per cent. (4 per cent.

according to Ostertag.)

On the other hand, in the earlier phases of the disease, where its presence has been recognized solely by the aid of the tuberculin test, before there are any recognizable physical symptoms in any part of the animal, the milk is generally unaffected. Between these extremes, however, is found a large proportion of cases, concerning which so definite data are not available. The results of investigators on this point are conflicting and further information is much desired. Some have a.s.serted so long as the udder itself shows no lesions that no tubercle bacilli would be present,[86] but the findings of a considerable number of investigators[87] indicate that even when the udder is apparently not diseased the milk may contain the specific organism as revealed by inoculation experiments upon animals. In some cases, however, it has been demonstrated by post-mortem examination that discoverable udder lesions existed that were not recognizable before autopsy was made. In the experimental evidence collected, a varying percentage of reacting animals were found that gave positive results; and this number was generally sufficient to indicate that the danger of using milk from reacting animals was considerable, even though apparently no disease could be found in the udder.

The infectiousness of milk can also be proven by the frequent contraction of the disease in other animals, such as calves and pigs which may be fed on the skim milk. The very rapid increase of the disease among the swine of Germany and Denmark,[88] and the frequently reported cases of intestinal infection of young stock also attest the presence of the organism in milk.

The tubercle bacillus is so markedly parasitic in its habits, that, under ordinary conditions, it is incapable of growing at normal air temperatures. There is, therefore, no danger of the germ developing in milk after it is drawn from the animal, unless the same is kept at practically blood heat.

Even though the milk of some reacting animals may not contain the dangerous organism at the time of making the test, it is quite impossible to foretell how long it will remain free. As the disease becomes more generalized, or if tuberculous lesions should develop in the udder, the milk may pa.s.s from a healthy to an infectious state.

This fact makes it advisable to exclude from milk supplies intended for human use, all milk of animals that respond to the tuberculin test; or at least to treat it in a manner so as to render it safe. Whether it is necessary to do this or not if the milk is made into b.u.t.ter or cheese is a somewhat different question. Exclusion or treatment is rendered more imperative in milk supplies, because the danger is greater with children with whom milk is often a prominent const.i.tuent of their diet, and also for the reason that the child is more susceptible to intestinal infection than the adult.

The danger of infection is much lessened in b.u.t.ter or cheese, because the processes of manufacture tend to diminish the number of organisms originally present in the milk, and inasmuch as no growth can ordinarily take place in these products the danger is minimized. Moreover, the fact that these foods are consumed by the individual in smaller amounts than is generally the case where milk is used, and also to a greater extent by adults, lessens still further the danger of infection.

Notwithstanding this, numerous observers[89] especially in Germany have succeeded in finding the tubercle bacillus in market b.u.t.ter, but this fact is not so surprising when it is remembered that a very large fraction of their cattle show the presence of the disease as indicated by the tuberculin test, a condition that does not obtain in any large section in this country.

The observations on the presence of the tubercle bacillus in b.u.t.ter have been questioned somewhat of late[2] by the determination of the fact that b.u.t.ter may contain an organism that possesses the property of being stained in the same way as the tubercle organism. Differentiation between the two forms is rendered more difficult by the fact that this tubercle-like organism is also capable of producing in animals lesions that stimulate those of tuberculosis, although a careful examination reveals definite differences. Petri[90] has recently determined that both the true tubercle and the acid-resisting b.u.t.ter organism may be readily found in market b.u.t.ter.

In the various milk products it has been experimentally determined that the true tubercle bacillus is able to retain its vitality in b.u.t.ter for a number of months and in cheese for nearly a year.

~Treatment of milk from tuberculosis cows.~ While it has been shown that it is practically impossible to foretell whether the milk of any reacting animal actually contains tubercle bacilli or not, still the interests of public health demand that no milk from such stock be used for human food until it has been rendered safe by some satisfactory treatment.

_1. Heating._ By far the best treatment that can be given such milk is to heat it. The temperature at which this should be done depends upon the thermal death point of the tubercle bacillus, a question concerning which there has been considerable difference of opinion until very recently. According to the work of some of the earlier investigators, the tubercle bacillus in its vegetative stage is endowed with powers of resistance greater than those possessed by any other pathogenic organism. This work has not been substantiated by the most recent investigations on this subject. In determining the thermal death point of this organism, as of any other, not only must the temperature be considered, but the period of exposure as well, and where that exposure is made in milk, another factor must be considered, viz., the presence of conditions permitting of the formation of a "scalded layer," for as Smith[91] first pointed out, the resistance of the tubercle organism toward heat is greatly increased under these conditions. If tuberculous milk is heated in a closed receptacle where this scalded membrane cannot be produced, the tubercle bacillus is killed at 140 F. in 15 to 20 minutes. These results which were first determined by Smith, under laboratory conditions, and confirmed by Russell and Hastings,[92] where tuberculous milk was heated in commercial pasteurizers, have also been verified by Hesse.[93] A great practical advantage which accrues from the treatment of milk at 140 F. is that the natural creaming is practically unaffected. Of course, where a higher temperature is employed, the period of exposure may be materially lessened. If milk is momentarily heated to 176 F., it is certainly sufficient to destroy the tubercle bacillus. This is the plan practiced in Denmark where all skim milk and whey must be heated to this temperature before it can be taken back to the farm, a plan which is designed to prevent the dissemination of tuberculosis and foot and mouth disease by means of the mixed creamery by-products. This course renders it possible to utilize with perfect safety, for milk supplies, the milk of herds reacting to the tuberculin test, and as b.u.t.ter of the best quality can be made from cream or milk heated to even high temperatures,[94] it thus becomes possible to prevent with slight expense what would otherwise entail a large loss.

_2. Dilution._ Another method that has been suggested for the treatment of this suspected milk is dilution with a relatively large volume of perfectly healthy milk. It is a well known fact that to produce infection, it requires the simultaneous introduction of a number of organisms, and in the case of tuberculosis, especially that produced by ingestion, this number is thought to be considerable. Gebhardt[95] found that the milk of tuberculous cows, which was virulent when injected by itself into animals, was innocuous when diluted with 40 to 100 times its volume of healthy milk. This fact is hardly to be relied upon in practice, unless the proportion of reacting to healthy cows is positively known.

It has also been claimed in the centrifugal separation of cream from milk[96] that by far the larger number of tubercle bacilli were thrown out with the separator slime. Moore[97] has shown that the tubercle bacilli in an artificially infected milk might be reduced in this way, so as to be no longer microscopically demonstrable, yet the purification was not complete enough to prevent the infection of animals inoculated with the milk.

Another way to exclude all possibility of tubercular infection in milk supplies is to reject all milk from reacting animals. This method is often followed where pasteurization or sterilization is not desired. In dairies where the keeping quality is dependent upon the exclusion of bacteria by stringent conditions as to milking and handling ("sanitary"

or "hygienic" milk), the tuberculin test is frequently used as a basis to insure healthy milk.

~Foot and mouth disease.~ The wide-spread extension of this disease throughout Europe in recent years has given abundant opportunity to show that while it is distinctively an animal malady, it is also transmissible to man, although the disease is rarely fatal. The causal organism has not been determined with certainty, but it has been shown that the milk of affected animals possesses infectious properties[98]

although appearing unchanged in earlier phases of the disease.

Hertwig showed the direct transmissibility of the disease to man by experiments made on himself and others. By ingesting milk from an affected animal, he was able to produce the symptoms of the disease, the mucous membrane of the mouth being covered with the small vesicles that characterize the malady. It has also been shown that the virus of the disease may be conveyed in b.u.t.ter.[99] This disease is practically unknown in this country, although widely spread in Europe.

There are a number of other bovine diseases such as anthrax,[100]

lockjaw,[101] and hydrophobia[102] in which it has been shown that the virus of the disease is at times to be found in the milk supply, but often the milk becomes visibly affected, so that the danger of using the same is greatly minimized.

There are also a number of inflammatory udder troubles known as garget or mammitis. In most of these, the physical appearance of the milk is so changed, and often pus is present to such a degree as to give a very disagreeable appearance to the milk. Pus-forming bacteria (staphylococci and streptococci) are to be found a.s.sociated with such troubles. A number of cases of gastric and intestinal catarrh have been reported as caused by such milks.[103]

DISEASES TRANSMISSIBLE TO MAN THROUGH INFECTION OF MILK AFTER WITHDRAWAL.

Milk is so well adapted to the development of bacteria in general, that it is not surprising to find it a suitable medium for the growth of many pathogenic species even at ordinary temperatures. Not infrequently, disease-producing bacteria are able to grow in raw milk in compet.i.tion with the normal milk bacteria, so that even a slight contamination may suffice to produce infection.

The diseases that are most frequently disseminated in this way are typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever and cholera, together with the various illy-defined intestinal troubles of a toxic character that occur in children, especially under the name of cholera infantum, summer complaint, etc.

Diseases of this cla.s.s are not derived directly from animals because cattle are not susceptible to the same.

~Modes of infection.~ In a variety of ways, however, the milk may be subject to contaminating influences after it is drawn from the animal, and so give opportunity for the development of disease-producing bacteria. The more important methods of infection are as follows:

_1. Infection directly from a pre-existing case of disease on premises._ Quite frequently a person in the early stage of a diseased condition may continue at his usual vocation as helper in the barn or dairy, and so give opportunity for direct infection to occur. In the so-called cases of "walking typhoid," this danger is emphasized. It is noteworthy in typhoid fever that the bacilli frequently persist in the urine and in diphtheria they often remain in the throat until after convalescence. In some cases infection has been traced to storage of the milk in rooms in the house where it became polluted directly by the emanations of the patient.[104] Among the dwellings of the lower cla.s.ses where a single room has to be used in common this source of infection has been most frequently observed.

_2. Infection through the medium of another person._ Not infrequently another individual may serve in the capacity of nurse or attendant to a sick person, and also a.s.sist in the handling of the milk, either in milking the animals or caring for the milk after it has been drawn.

Busey and Kober report twenty-one outbreaks of typhoid fever in which dairy employees also acted in the capacity of nurses.

_3. Pollution of milk utensils._ The most frequent method of infection of cans, pails, etc., is in cleaning them with water that may be polluted with disease organisms. Often wells may be contaminated with diseased matter of intestinal origin, as in typhoid fever, and the use of water at normal temperatures, or even in a lukewarm condition, give conditions permitting of infection. Intentional adulteration of milk with water inadvertently taken from polluted sources has caused quite a number of typhoid outbreaks.[105] Sedgwick and Chapin[106] found in the Springfield, Ma.s.s., epidemic of typhoid that the milk cans were placed in a well to cool the milk, and it was subsequently shown that the well was polluted with typhoid fecal matter.

_4. Pollution of udder_ of animal _by wading in infected water_, or by washing same with contaminated water. This method of infection would only be likely to occur in case of typhoid. An outbreak at the University of Virginia in 1893[107] was ascribed to the latter cause.

_5. Pollution of creamery by-products, skim-milk, etc._ Where the milk supply of one patron becomes infected with pathogenic bacteria, it is possible that disease may be disseminated through the medium of the creamery, the infective agent remaining in the skim milk after separation and so polluting the mixed supply. This condition is more likely to prevail with typhoid because of the greater tolerance of this organism for acids such as would be found in raw milk. The outbreaks at Brandon,[108] England, in 1893, Castle Island,[109] Ireland, and Marlboro,[110] Ma.s.s., in 1894, were traced to such an origin.

While most outbreaks of disease a.s.sociated with a polluted milk supply originate in the use of the milk itself, yet infected milk may serve to cause disease even when used in other ways. Several outbreaks of typhoid fever have been traced to the use of ice cream where there were strong reasons for believing that the milk used in the manufacture of the product was polluted.[111] Hankin[112] details a case of an Indian confection made largely from milk that caused a typhoid outbreak in a British regiment.

Although the evidence that milk may not infrequently serve as an agent in spreading disease is conclusive enough to satisfactorily prove the proposition, yet it should be borne in mind that the organism of any specific disease in question has rarely ever been found. The reasons for this are quite the same as those that govern the situation in the case of polluted waters, except that the difficulties of the problem are much greater in the case of milk than with water. The inability to readily separate the typhoid germ, for instance, from the colon bacillus, an organism frequently found in milk, presents technical difficulties not easily overcome. The most potent reason of failure to find disease bacteria is the fact that infection in any case must occur sometime previous to the appearance of the outbreak. Not only is there the usual period of incubation, but it rarely happens that an outbreak is investigated until a number of cases have occurred. In this interim the original cause of infection may have ceased to be operative.

~Typhoid fever.~ With reference to the diseases likely to to be disseminated through the medium of milk, infected after being drawn from the animal, typhoid fever is the most important. The reason for this is due (1) to the wide spread distribution of the disease; (2) to the fact that the typhoid bacillus is one that is capable of withstanding considerable amounts of acid, and consequently finds even in raw milk containing the normal lactic acid bacteria conditions favorable for its growth.[113] Ability to grow under these conditions can be shown not only experimentally, but there is abundant clinical evidence that even a slight infection often causes extensive outbreaks, as in the Stamford, Conn., outbreak in 1895 where 386 cases developed in a few weeks, 97 per cent. of which occurred on the route of one milk-man. In this case the milk cans were thoroughly and properly cleaned, but were rinsed out with _cold_ water from a shallow well that was found to be polluted.

The most common mode of pollution of milk with typhoid organisms is where the milk utensils are infected in one way or another.[114] Second in importance is the carrying of infection by persons serving in the dual capacity of nurse and dairy attendant.

~Cholera.~ This germ does not find milk so favorable a nutrient medium as the typhoid organism, because it is much more sensitive toward the action of acids. Kitasato[115] found, however, that it could live in raw milk from one to four days, depending upon the amount of acid present. In boiled or sterilized milk it grows more freely, as the acid-producing forms are thereby eliminated. In b.u.t.ter it dies out in a few days (4 to 5).

On account of the above relation not a large number of cholera outbreaks have been traced to milk, but Simpson[116] records a very striking case in India where a number of sailors, upon reaching port, secured a quant.i.ty of milk. Of the crew which consumed this, every one was taken ill, and four out of ten died, while those who did not partake escaped without any disease. It was later shown that the milk was adulterated with water taken from an open pool in a cholera infected district.

~Diphtheria.~ Milk occasionally, though not often, serves as a medium for the dissemination of diphtheria. Swithinbank and Newman[117] cites four cases in which the causal organism has been isolated from milk. It has been observed that growth occurs more rapidly in raw than in sterilized milk.[118]

Infection in this disease is more frequently attributable to direct infection from patient on account of the long persistence of this germ in the throat, or indirectly through the medium of an attendant.

~Scarlet fever.~ Although it is more difficult to study the relation of this disease to contaminated milk supplies, because the causal germ of scarlet fever is not yet known, yet the origin of a considerable number of epidemics has been traced to polluted milk supplies. Milk doubtless is infected most frequently from persons in the earlier stages of the disease when the infectivity of the disease is greater.

~Diarrhoeal diseases.~ Milk not infrequently acquires the property of producing diseases of the digestive tract by reason of the development of various bacteria that form more or less poisonous by-products. These troubles occur most frequently during the summer months, especially with infants and children, as in cholera infantum and summer complaint. The higher mortality of bottle-fed infants[119] in comparison with those that are nursed directly is explicable on the theory that cows' milk is the carrier of the infection, because in many cases it is not consumed until there has been ample time for the development of organisms in it.