Evening star., 1899-04-27
MILK SUPPLY AND DISEASE
A Local Effort to Raise the Standard and
Reduce the Danger
Conclusions of a Committee of the
Washington Medical Society
After a Series of Tests.

One of the most marked results of mod
ern bacterologicai study in its relation to
the peoples food supply is a tendency on the
, part of municipal authorities and medical
organizations to demand a purdcation of
the milk supplies. 1t is now widely recog
nized that this community presents very
many opportunities for the transmission of
disease. Several of the most common epi
demic diseases are positively known to be
communicable through milk. including scar
let fever, typhoid fever and diphtheria. As
consequence of this disclosure medical au-
thorties have reached the point of demand
ing that municipal action be had to insure
better dairy conditions thus striking at
the root of the evil. 1t is believed that by
requiring cleanliness and in the han
ding of cows and their product at all stages
of the transaction the danger of disease
communication through this medium Will be
reduced to minimum
The Washington Medical Society has been
particularly active in this research. Re
alzing the relation of purity in the milk
supply to the public health and having had
its attention called to the local desire for
pure milk, it appointed a committee of
three physicians, Drs. Adams kober and
De Schwenitz, to inquire into the processes
and the products of selected dairy which
was to be conducted under the closest scru-
tiny of these physicians, using all means
suggested by medical science to assure pur-
| ity in the milk. This committee was named
| in December. 1897, and has been at work
| since that date with the result that at a
recent meeting of the society a report was
| presented by DR.. De Schweilitz showing
| the generally satisfactory results OF the
| tests applied.
| A meteorological Census.
The product of this dairy was of two
| kinds "pasteurized'' and sanitary" The
latter was collected from carefully chosen
nd a,-lp cd with nOSSiDle
! precaution to keep the dangers Of contain
| ination at a minimum The former was sub
| jected to the well-known scientific treat
ment. According to the report the number
| of bacteria per cubic centimenter IN the
pasteurized milk was found rs a rule to be
| less than 200 In some cases no bacteria
! could be detected. In four instances the
| number increased to over 1000. The show
| ing as to the sanitary milk was not so
Favorable as might have been expected IN
| 113 samples eXanined-these having beeh
| procured surreptitiously without nouce 20
! the dairy company-the number OF bacterial
| colonies varied in majority of cases from
| POO 10 5000. Three samples showed over
| 80 900 colonies to the cubic centimeler. three
others over 10000 and less than 10000, one
| over 1900 and less than 2D03t, two others
| oliver 5000 and less than 13,0oo. two others
| over 5000 and less than 10000.
DR.. de schweinitz In MS report toT 'i'e
In April and May, 1895, obtained
| through the health officer. Dr. Woodward,
and in January, 1880, through one OF the
| health office inspectors. DR.. Turner sam
| pies of milk taken from different dairy
| wagons in the city. Thirty-one different
| samples of milk were examined. vi thtSe
| one showed only about 4.on Haclfila pei
| cubic cantimcter; one, 2.'tD per c}hlc cen
,inneter: five others, between 1N,"o ana
| Il, 900; SIX between 10000 and 3D,i ~ per Gu
bic centimeter, and the remainder more
| than 10000 per cubic centimeter, IN sever d
| ;,,-- rupniDo i,pD,ibp per Cu'Dlt
| centimeter-
Millions of Colonies.
| "When we consider that, in the milk sup
! nIy of our large cities the number OF bac-
| terra per cubic centmeter has been found
| to vary from 30,o00 to S5GolVo1, ana mas
often been found as high as the number
| Of bacteria in the sewage Of several towns
| namely. between one and four million per
cubic centimeter the value of the nuinoeF
| of bacteria per cubic centimeter Of mix as
| indicating the care which has been used III
collecting and handling the milk IS at one one
| apDarent. one of the German authoflleS
! on the subject of sanitary milk. bItltE'
| claims that the maximum limit Tor min MIN
| that's fit for food is 51Un germs PEI
| cni,;c ccntimeter On this basis, the mix
| from only thirteen out of thlrtY-tWo ddlritS
| which has been examined in this Guy NouId
he fit for food. The results OF me exam
| nations which We have made snow Ihtl II
| - nossfhla TO keep the bacterial content
/ down below j0.ntD per cubic centlfhSler' &ili
| it would not be expecting to" n4ch 20 @ ue-
mand that no milk should be soiu II II Ms'7
| found to contain more thah TINS h"ii"i
Generally Good Conditions.
After reviewing the sanitary regulations
! in vogue in some of the largest cities o. 'i'e
old world affecting the milk supply the re-
port concludes thus, in reference 10 ti'e
work Of the dairy establishment under
| scrutiny:
We may say in general that the larger
,nr,h.r Of samples examined nave shown
very satisfactory results Eighteen sam
! Mes during the year from time TO time IN
dicatod carelessness. When properly han
| died the milk from this laboratory appeared
! TO contain a smaller number of bacteria
| per cubic centimeter than most of the ml-k
| that we have examined from other dalrles.
1t is interesting to note that IL some
eases where the temperature, as recOfbid
at the weather bureau in this city, was
| high the number of bacteria found in the
| milk was still low while in other cases
where the temperature was lower the num-
| Der of bacteria found in the milk was
| higher than it should have been. The aver
age number of bacteria per cuhlGcentlinetef
found in the samples of sanitary milk *
| amined between January l. 1S9S, and fee-
ruary l. 1899 was 6.4S5. The average num-
ber of bacteria per cubic centlneter III the
| samples of pasteuriZed milk examined our
| ing the same time was IA. me total mum
| her of sanitary samples examined was 1l3'
| the total number OF paSieurized samples eN-
arnined was s. The total number Of sam
pies examined from other dairies was 81,
| and the average number OF bacteria per
| cubic centimeler in these was found to be
| - o00 In all these examinations agar
| plates were used and the colonies counted
| after forty-eght hours.
| 1t is of benefit to Washington that the
| medical society is taking such a direct in
| terest in this matter and that the result of
| it's supervision thus far has been so ia
| vorable. The standard of purity ana clean
| liness having thus been raised in a single
| instance it is not too much to expect that
| undes the influence of a scientific scrutiny
| and perhaps of municipal regulations the
general dairy conditions through the local
area will be materially bettered, to the in
| finite benefit of the public health
Stop the Scarcher.
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Already the scorcher has appeared in the
| land. The news columns are beginning to
| tell the NJ his maiayDiaOaa m To at tor