The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-26
UNTRUE, SAYS CAMPBELL
Did Not Say so Per Cent OF Dairy
Cattle Have Tuberculosis.

The recently published statement
that fifty per cent OF the cattie IN
and about Topeka are inrecteQ win
tuberculosis" and ascribed 10 Dr. -;
M. Campbell, the newly appoiIllseu
milk INSPECTOR, is not only mis-
i statement of facts. but 1t is utterly
without foundation and does great
injustice to the doctor.
The facts are that the doctor mas
only inspected a small per cent OF the
dairy herds in the city and vicinity.
and of those he has Inspected ne nad
stated that there was Infection IN n!ty
per cent of the larger herds. Now in
| lection in a herd might mean tnat
one COW out of forty had tubercular
germs. on this basis the number or
COWS in and around Topeka that We're
really infected would be less than
one-half of one per cent Of the whole
| number.
DR. Campbell further stated that
while there was infection IN about
| half of the large herds he had visited,
that he had found little il any infec-
ton in the smaller herds, especially in
| Topeka.
on the face of the doctorr's state
ments one per cent instead or nrty
would cover the number OF injected
cows out of a possible 100 per cent.
The dairymen and consumers who
were up in arms today over the start
ling and sensational statements that
half of the cows furnishing milk for
Topeka had tuberculosis can cool
down and speculate on the probable
damage that might result from about
one per cent of these cows being in
fected.
In an interview with the State Jour
nal today DIR. Campbell said: There
is a vast difference between saying
fifty per cent of the cows furnishing
milk for Topeka have tuberculosis
and saying that fifty per cent of the
herds probably contain some infected
cows. The former statement, the one
appearing in the morning paper, ex-
aggerates the condition. which is bad
enough at best The latter statement,
the one L really made, believe to be
conservative enough.
"It is too early yet to predict what
per cent of the cows will be found to
have tuberculosis. In a few of the
herds where sanitary conditions have
been very bad and where frequent ad-
ditions have been made to the herd
from various sources the percentage
of tubercular animals is high. Herds
are usually infected by the addition
of some COW. which although appar-
emily healthy has tuberculosis. From
this animal the disease spreads to the
others, the rapidity depending much
on the sanitary conditions under
which the animals are kept.
'It is an important fact that all the
milk, from dairy in which are kept
any tubercular animals, contains the
germs of tuberculosis. This is because
the intestinal canal is the chief organ
of elimination for the germs of this
disease in cattle. Infected cattle have
been known to pass 35 million tub
bercle bacilli daily with their feces
These germs are blown about the
stables in the dust and some invar-
iably get into the milk. OF course,
keeping the COW stable clean removes
much of the danger"
DR.. Campbell will inspect every COW
furnishing milk for Topeka consum-
ers as fast as he can push the work.
1t is not expected that the good re-
suits from this new ordinance will be-
come apparent before the first of the
wear