Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-28
MADE FOR
SOURCE OF FEVER
CONTINUED from First Page.)

toned particularly where it referred to
milk as source Of Infection He also in
dulged freely In criticism Of the report.
DR.. Woodward says he does not believe
the city's milk supply was in any noticeable
way accountable for typhoid in the District
last summer. Neither does he believe the
wells at dairy farms were responsible for
conveying typhoid fever, contending that
even IL some of these wells were found to
be chemically and bacterially polluted, 1t
does not follow that they can convey the
disease. He stated that the 10 per cent at
tributed to milk by the marine hospital bac-
THEOLOGICAL experts Is much larger than II
would have been had the returns for the
entire year been considered. for no cases
due to milk infection were detected during
the part of the year subsequent to the work
Of this committee Of the marine hospital,
he says.
The health officer declares that it is al
most universally believed that no case or
typhoid fever originates except from some
other case of the disease, such as Is calieo
contact" Upon this subject he reported
to Commissioner Mcfarland:
IF, therefore, milk carries typhoid 1nfec-
ton 1t carries 1t directly or indirectly from
q typhoid fever patient, and In the various
outbreaks that have come to my attention
this has been found to be the case the
focus Of infection being located with rea-
sonable certainty in a patient on the dairy
farms or in the dairy"
Milk as an Agent.
Regarding the possibility of milk becoming
infected with this disease through the
cleansing of the milk utensils with water
from polluted wells on dairy farms. as has
been suggested by several experts on ty-
phoid, the health officer says:
1.-The likelihood of such pollution arising
from the wastes of farm animals is SO
much greater than the likelihood Of it arts
ing from human excreta that when pollu-
&c datac tod ia
to have come from the former source than
from the latter, and none of our domestic
animals so far as we know suffer from ty-
phoid fever, or are capable of conveying
the disease to humans. If contamination
arise from human sources, 1t must arise
from a person suffering from typhoid fever
before it can give rise to that disease, and
If a well be tainted with typhoid infection
such infection must disappear within
comparatively short time after 1t occurs,
either through the infective organisms be-
ing pumped out of the well or through their
death, well water not affording a suitable
medium for their multiplication and contin-
ued existence. There does not seem to be,
therefore, any reasonable proof that the
contamination of the wells on our dairy
farms, about a thousand In number. scat
tered over a territory covering many hum
dreds Of square miles, is responsible for
the occurrence Of typhoid fever in the Dis
trfct
Reasons for the Belief.
"A reason for believing that the we'll
water used on our dairy farms is not re-
sponsible for any considerable number OF
cases of typhoid fever in the District is
shown by the relative infrequency Of the
occurrence of typhoid fever on our dairy
farms. 1t must be remembered that with
the exception Of few dairy farms in
Pennsylvania and New York, every farm
shipping milk into the District of Columbia
Is visited more or less frequently by in
spectors In the service of the health de-
partment, all Of them graduated veterinary
surgeons. The frequency of inspection de-
ponds somewhat on the location of the
farm, the more accessible farms being ex-
amined more frequently than are those
more remote. but during 19O5-19O6 the 91s
dairy farms on which our milk was pro-
duced were examined 3,526 times This
represents about an ordinary number of
inspections per annum. If a sufficient
amount of typhoid fever had existed In the
wells on our dairy farms to keep up the
continuous Infection Of the District 1t is
not reasonable to believe that among the
thousands Of persons residing or employed
on these dairy farms and freely using such
we'll water, typhoid fever would have been
so infre0uent as not to have attracted the
attention Of the inspectors"
Regarding the various endeavors that
have been made both by the local health
department and the Department of Aeri-
culture, DR.. Woodward reported that COPIES
Of the Fifty Dairy Rules prepared by
tNe department OF Agriculture were dis
tributed among the dairy farmers supply
ing milk to the District to encourage them
to produce good milk.
Notices Were Posted.
These were very generally posted in the
barns" he said. land their presence was
probably conducive Of good Many of them
II not all, am informed, have disappear
ed. An effort will be made to replace them
as rapidly as circumstances will permit
So with respect to the proposed certifica-
ton of milk. The health officer long ago
took an active part in the organization of
the milk commission of the Medical So
ciety of the District of Columbia but dur
ing the many years of it's existence the
commission has never been called upon to
investigate any milk supply with a view to
its certifcation. The Commissioners have
sought, too, for Rany years past to strength
en- the law regulating the sale of milk in the
District of Columbia.
Efforts have been made to procure the
enactment of a law requiring milk to be
kept cool and to enlarge the powers of the
health officer In the matter of suspending
and revoking permits, and in the matter Of
preventing the sale of impure or unwhole-
some milk, but without avail. 1t may be-
however. that the improvement of our milk
supply will be fastened If sufficient num-
In the movement to give 1t more impetus
than it appears possible for it to receive
through the efforts of the Commissioners
and the health officer and the efforts of
physicians who alone of all our citizens
have been the only ones to interest them
selves actively in procuring the enactment
Of better law to govern the production