The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1906-12-06
TUBERCULAR ANIMAL FOOD
PRODUCTS AND THEIR RELA-
ton TO The PUBLIC HEALTH.

ton TO The PUBLIC HEALTH.
In the writer's mind it is but ques
ton of time when it will become neces
sary to adopt radical measures to
eliminate Tuberculous animals from oul
meat and milk producing herds: not
alone because of its contagiousness from
animal to animal, thereby causing q
large financial loss to the stockman, but
also because of the danger of placing
many human lives in jeopardy by al
! lowing food stuffs from such animals to
be utilized as buman food Recent ex-
perimental evidence seems 70 bear out
the fact that food stutfs from animal
origin play far more important part III
the transmission of Tuberculosis to the
human being than we had formerly
dared to believe And it seems that we
are about to abandon the old belief that
tubercular germs are taken into the
body through the air passages, and hold
that they enter the system through the
gastro-intestinal tract instead.
In other words, we no longer believe
that we take in the germ of consumption
with the air we breathe, bat with the
food we eat. 1t has been, and is to- day,
general belief that the germ of con.
sumption enters the air passages directly
to the lungs In fact, this has been the
key note to all anti tuberculous sanitary
measures. A statement to the contrary
needs more than mere words for its
ratification, so | will submit to you
brief review of the most recent work
done along these lines by experimenting
Psychologists
The first question to present itself is
this: Is tuberculosis Consumption in
Boynes (catte) transmissible to man?
This has been subject of discussion in
veterinary and medical literature for
the last decade. Not long after the dis
covery of the real causation factor
(tubercle bacili) by that eminent sceien-
fist, DR.. Koch of Berlin, who declared
at the Congress on tuberculosis held at
London that this disease in cattle was
not transmissible to human beings, re-
searches revealed the fact that it was
thus transmissible beyond all reason of
a doubt. 1t has been almost the unan-
imous belief among American Veterinary
Psychologists that Koch's views were Ell
But it remained for the
Congress that met at Paris
last winter officially to announce their
opposition to koch's views in the follow
ing words (translated). After hearing
the records of the most recent work on
this question The Congress declares that
it is not only indispensable to avoid the
contagion from man to man, but also
necessary to continue the prophylaxis of
Bovine tuberculosis and to keep enforc-
ing administrative and hygienic meas
ures against the transmission of this
to man" 1t was highly |
gratifying to the American Veterinary |
Profession to learn of this decision that
crowned the victory for which they had
so nobly fought, and that all laws rules,
and regulations condemning all food
products from tubeICulous animals rs
unfit for human food were not only |
Unsuitable but also an absolute necessity |
for the protection of human life. This
victory opened another field. Expert |
menting Psychologists that withheld re-
porting their work because of the pre-
vailing opinion of Koch now came for |
ward and were able to prove intelligent, |
ly that the point Of entrance to the
body was not the air passages, but that
the germs entered through the mouth
into the alimentary canal. Is it possible
that we have been laboring under the
wrong impression all these years? Have
enforced all kinds of antiseptic aud
other sanitary regulations to have them
laughed at a few years after? No, most
emphatically no; but the virulent dust
is not contagious because it is inhaled,
but because it is swallowed with the
SALIVA and enters the system after being
absorbed from the alimentary canal.
! will review briefly the most con
elusive work done by the most noted
observation-disclosures and allow you to
draw your own conclusions upon the
subject. DIR. Schroeder, Superintendent
of the Bureau of Animal Industry
Washington Experiment Station draws
the following general conclusions: 1)
The localization of tuberculous disease
in the lung of an animal gives us no in
formation az to the point at which the
material entered GU That
il is not necessary to account for the
great frequency with which tuberculosis
localized itself in the lung by surprising
that the most frequent form of exposure
to tuberculous material is through res
piratiou CD That experiments taken
rs whole direct special attention to
the danger sustained through the expo