The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-07-08
The CONTAMINATION OF BREAD.

y
! For practically universal article OF
diet. bread seems TO have received
little attention from psychologists
Usually handled By several persons.
often exposed 10 flies and street dust
sometimes tossed abcut under Fery
uncleanly conditions. bakers bread is
sobEiousEy liable to uiek up dangerous
bacterial contamination II II is hand
Lad br z typhoid carrier il Is possible
for typhoid barill5 tic be sneared On the
outside oE the lcaf. and since bread as
& raIe Is ea1ea wirh1re hsaEiag and
very scpz after -Fsachss EEs cor
suRers i naF readily be shs means q
SeoEvsyTaE Infection
I.1-s5sn OF the T. 5 Public Health
and Marine Hcspf1sl se-Tsre has rzcei
ceases az tsraosd fsTs- II the goreru-
sEszt hosr-zl t3r tie insane Il wash
fnEtca, .. C. 70 ths hiding Of hrszd
ar An zt1e-dsH- Who had been caring
for tvpho51 ps-EezE Il his hone
Ezfa-o1 has recntFy described sin
lar occurrence IN The EEgIn state
hospital Whers ssFsz cases as typhold
fever deEezo9ed within Z few months
These Esre al IN rzt5ea-s using ths
general dining rrou Eor females On
investigation II =4 frzG thze fe
male attendant Ehcss duty Il was 10
slice all the aresd used IN this dining
room had had tgphoEd feTer three
years previously and vas carrier.
diseharging typhoid baefIli On De-
cenber % this attendant vas trans
fsred 10 another Department ~here
she did not handle unlocked food. and
no further cases OF typhoid fever &C.
Cured.
It Is rarely possible 10 determine
with such precision Is il the cases
cited the articles OF uncooEed food
that probably served as the vehicle OF
infection. and We can hardly doubt
that contaminated bread Is responsible
for scattered cases Ct typhoid more
! frequently than Is recognized For
!, Obvious reasons evidence is more
difficult 10 secure than in the case Of
milk and water Kayser in his obser
nations on typhoid fever in Strasbgrg
I found a particularly high typhoid
mortality among bakers. possibly due
to their exposure to milk Infection
In a recent number of the Journa! Of
the American Medical Association an
! pears a paper on the bacterial contain
nation OF bread which is timely COZ
tribution The writer shows that TN
der some conditions the smesring o
loaves of bread may be very consid
Il cradle, reaching. in the case CT IN
y wrapped loaves kept under uneleanl,
= conditions hundreds of thousands o
germs Out of hundred ioaves pur
chased from as many different shop
in the city OF Chicago. IA per cen
were each coated with more tina
:. ten thousand bacteria AS might b
. shops, where all the surroundings ar
favorable. have not nearly so man
germs clinging to them as those keE
under generally dirty conditions Tn
difference between the bacterial Goa
:. ing of wrapped and unwrapped brea
is particularly suggestive In no cas-
= did the bacterial contamination {
wrapped bread reach nigh ngnr'
le. On the other hand, more than half {
" the unwrapped loaves (62 per cent
us were coated with ever a thousand ba
Dr. terra. Eleven wrapped loaves obtai
!. ed from clean shops bore on the ave
re- age onlv 81 bacteria each.
nd It is said to be difficult to obtain
rs, sale for wrapped loaves in certain eli
*, districts, where the prospective pu
20 lchasers insist on testing the quail
ut of the bread by pinching the leaf wi
of thumb and finger, Unpleasant pc
ge lsibilities are suggested by snch fact
70 IIs it not worth while to take son