The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-31
TRICHINOSIS IS
NOT CONTAGIOUS
Alarm in Marin County
> CauSeleSS.
NO DANGER OF AN EPIDEMIC
J.: CONT CASE CAREFULLY INvEs-
TIGATED BY OFFICIALS.
Anzini, the Hired Man, Probably
: VIII Share the Fate of
the Unfortunate
Farmer.
CONT CASE CAREFULLY INVES-
TIGATED BY OFFICIALS.
Special Dispatch to The Call.


SAN RAFAEL, Jan. So.-The cases
OF trichinosis at Tomales and Peta-
;. luna, caused by eating infected pork,
have excited widespread interest and
D.. the health officials have been deluged
with both verbal and written queries
regarding the circumstances. Popular
attention seems to he drawn to the af-
fair largely on account of a miscon-
. ception of, the facts. the questions
asked implying belief that the disease
= is of a contagious or infectious charac-
ter. But the chief interest is aroused
Be- in scientific circles on account of the
rare appearance of such cases.
About month ago DR.. Bruce Cooke
Fill Of Bloomfield was summoned at
tend farmer named Cont, living a
short distance from Tomales. He dag
nosed the case and at first reached the
conclusion that the man was suffering
from typhoid fever in it's incipient
stage. Cont failed to rally under the
ordinary treatment, and other physi-
clans were called in for consultation
Then farm hand named Anzini be-
came i'll and had the same symptoms.
Finally four others now in Petaluma
grew i'll, their symptoms being identi-
cal with the others. The last person to
suffer from the disease was Contis
wife.
Medical skill awaited not in the case
of Cont and he died in great agony.
Shortly before he succumbed the ply
sicians concluded that he and all the
other sick persons were afflicted with
tTiehinosis. An Investigation disclosed
the fact that about three weeks before
hoI h.asa
slaughtered and the meat made into
what is called salami sausage. The
meat is merely cured by smoking and
3 no great heat is applied TO it in MAX
= Ing this kind Of sausage. Cont ate
more than the others but AnZini also
. partook freely of the infected meat
Last Wednesday DIR. Nief, the COun-
~ Veterinary Surgeon, and DR.. Urban.
: the Health Official of TomaleS, visited
the Cont ranch, which they found I'M
. der the care of one Grandi This per
." son did all he could to retard the Off
Gals in their investigation and had to
: be threatened with arrest before he
would permit any to be made. Anzini
; was found to be swollen badly and so
:. tender were his. muscles that the slight
est touch caused him 10 vince. Mrs.
Cont will probably recover. which fact
is true Of those lying i'll at Petaluma
we forced Grandi to show us the
:: rest Of the sa1ami,' said DR.. Nief to-
day, and it was subjected to a micro
SCOPE examination. I did not expect to
find any trfchinae in the first specimen.
but there were no less than three of the
parasites in sight Every other. piece
we examined abounded in trichinae. I
3 took several of them and placed them
on a glass slide, then poured little
alcohol over them and placed the speci-
mems under the microscope. The result
showed the parasites to be alive for
q alcohol fn
. burn.
We placed this salami in the yard,
saturated il with coal oil and burned It,
Then we drove all the pigs on the ranch
into a small Enclosure and made a thor
ough examination of each one. None of
them had the symptoms of trichinosis,
but as 1t takes about six weeks for the
parasites to manifest themselves in
: these animals, we quarantined the place
. for two months. Grandi was thorough
q. ~ frightened and will doubtless obey
instructions
When meat infected with trichinae
is taken into the system the parasites
cast off their young in the alimentaTy
. canal. and then both the young and the
j: old bore their way through the walls Of
the canal into the muscles where they
become encysted between the fibers. If
they are very numerous, death viii oc-
V cur in a short time, as in the case of
Cont. Anzini will undoubtedly meet
the same fate. But If the trichinae are
not present In numbers sufficient to
cause death in a limited time they soon
become enveloped in a covering of lime
and die Then they are absorbed and
cast out Of the system through the ordi-
nary avenues by which the body dis.
poses of waste material.
This is the first case of trichinosis
" known in the history of Marin
County / have been questioned by
many people who seem TO think it will
become epidemic, but this apprehen-
sion is grounded in ignorance. We dis
covered that the sow afflicted with
trichinae was brought to the Cont
farm from some place outside the
county, but Grahdi would not tell US
the place. She grew thin, and. all eff
forts TO fatten her failing, she was
killed and her flesh made into the
salami. The sausage was destroyed, and