Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-29
SEARCH FOR GERMS
Experiments With Milk as Ty-
phoid Generator.
SERIES OF TESTS MADE
Microbes Found to Exist in Fluid
Kept Forty Days.
INFECTED BUTTER EXAMINED
Report Of Henry J. Washburn Of
Pathological Division, Depart
ment Of Agriculture.
INFECTED BUTTER EXAMINED

| In view of the fact that much OF the
typhoid fever in Washington has been
traced to milk infection. the Department
of Agriculture has made a series Of ex-
periments to determine how long typhoid
germs will remain alive in milk and but
ter under ordinary market conditions.
The result Is to show that the germs will
remain. active in milk much longer than
milk is ever kept before being consumed
namely. forty days-and that in the case
OF butter the germs have been found &C
| tive and ready for business at the end OF
| 151 days. This has led to an urgent
recommendation by the department for
all handlers of dairy products to sterilze
milk before It is either sold as milk or
| made into butter.
Gives Results Of His Work.
The series of experiments: was. carried
on by Henry ]. Washburn of the patho-
logical division. He says the investiga-
tons Of the marine hospital service il
| connection with typhoid In Washington
showed that for three years there was an
average of 10 per cent Of the cases direct
ly traceable to milk infection. Consider
ing the fact he says, that typhoid Is a
disease that is present throughout the
country all the time and everywhere. this
10 per cent of infection represents an i'm
mense amount of preventable sickness
He thinks that Is per cent would not be
an excessive rating as tho proportion of
typhoid due to dairy infection.
The department tried one experiment to
see whether pure" milk from cows ever
carried typhoid. For this test preparation
of active typhoid germs was fed to
COW and her milk was tested. 1t was
found, however. that the stomach OF the
L 49, v,FA Att avN6
nothing harmful was found In the milk.
1t Is stated that milk is an excellent me-
dunn for breeding typhoid germs ii any
get into the milk from outside.
Laboratory Tests.
Tests were made at the laboratory, and
| 1t was found that clean milk infected
| with a healthy colony of germs was
| swarming with them In a few hours.
| There are SO many ways In which milk
can easily get infected with typhoid that
1t was thought worth while to see how
long the Infection lasted after it was
| once established.
| For this purpose some milk was inten-
tionaly infected with typhoid germs and
| was then churned into butter, the butter
| milk strained OF. the butter sailed and
packed as though for commercial storage.
| This butter was kept in tight Jars In an
ice chest at the laboratory and was tested
| every day. plate was made OF a little
| butter and microscopically examined for
typhoid. The germs proved to be active
from the first day.
As the test progressed. there would
come days when the microscope would
show no germs, but that was because
I the needle on which the butter was COL
lected had passed through some part OF
the butter that was not infected before it
waGs packed down. r-4A fsinnifRr test was
sure to produce eefns6 the-next day..
~ Series Of Experiments.
This series of tests was continued for
151 days. and the. one-hundred- and fifty
first day was the last ron which active
germs were found. The tests were con-
tinued for eight days after that, but
it was plain that the infection had died
The-tests with the milk were made In
the same general way. Milk was pur-
posely infected and was then kept in q
cool place and tested daily. It was
found that the germs survived for forty
days, and this was much longer than
milk ever would be kept.
No tests were made with cheese, but
enough was shown to convince the de-
partment that dairy products as a whole
are potent source Of infection, and that
1t Is essential to sterili8e all milk as
matter OF public safety.