Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1908-07-28
CONTAMINATION OF MILK
The Prevalence of Tubercle Bacil.
i.-A Warning That Should
be Needed.


81 health today is probably the mill
:, supply. A large percentage o
l the cows furnishing milk for the
S market are tuberculous, though
3 the tubercle bacilli pass from
: the cow into the milk only when
| there is tuberculous process in
: the mammary glands or milk
. ducts. The main source of the
) invasion is the particles of litter
and manure falling into the milk
at milking time.
1t is customary everywhere to
strain milk directly after milk
ing. This is done for no other
purpose than to remove litter
and particles of manure from the
milk. A single hair dropping
1 from the COW into the milk, if
soiled with manure, will carry
with 1t from one to three thous-
and germs, and particle of ma
nure barely visible to the naked
eye will carry proportionately
more. When a COW is affected
with pulmonary tuberculosis
(consumption) in an advanced
stage one or more lungs will be
found to contain from pint to
a quart of yellow matter (pus)
that sets up an irritation caus-
ing the COW to cough. AS she
does not expectorate, the pus
that is coughed up is swal-
lowed, eventually passing out
with the excreta. A quanti-
ty of pus equalling the size of a
th1mble will contain thousands
and thousands of the living tu-
bercle bacilli. AS the gastric
fluids and digestive tract of the
cow do not kill the tubercle ba-
sthey pass to the excreta,
bedding and hair of the COW,
thence into the milk bucket and
to the consumer.
The greatest danger of con-
tamlnation lies in the uncleanly
method of milking as commonly |
practiced. AS a rule most milk |
ers drink milk. If they could |
only see each organism that they
allow to get into the milk while |
it is being drawn, they would
surely adopt more sanitary meth
DDS. The tubercle bacillus m aas-
ures about three twenty-five
t1ousandths of an inch in length
and five ten-thousandths of an
inch in diameter. No strainer
can remove such small bodies
from milk, and the smallest par
5lcle OF excreta can conceal thouc-
ands of them.
The tubercle bacilli usually
grow slowly in the human body,
sometimes remaining for long
periods Of time without develop
ng and yet retain their vitality.
Milk from tuberculous cows is
dangerous for infants,
IS the organisms may give rise
% tubercular processes years af-
erwards. If tuberculosis devel-
ped quickly, as scarlet fever,
liphtheria orsmallpox the source
# infection could be more easily
raced, but it does not and for
hat reason it is not so much
cared, although more fatal.
The amount of tuberculosis
hat exists is perfectly alarming. :
t is not confined to the human !
ace alone; cattle, hogs, sheep
nd poultry are afflicted with it,
nd the evidence that we have
roves the disease to be COM J
1unicable. In this enlightened t
ge it would seem as though ev- a
ryone would make an especial
fort to fight the disease and q
artlcularly to keep the tubercle
acllll out of milk which forms @
neh an important diet for man
nd beast. 1t cannot be too a
,rongly impressed upon the
ind OF everyone who handles S
nix that when particles of ma
ure or litter fall into the milk
ICY III all probability carry with -
lem the deadly germs of tuber- / /
llosis, which unseen are deliv- +,
ed to the innocent consumer.
o man CT woman would feed a
1ild with milk in which they
Nv the tubercle bacilli, so we "