University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1913-03-13

Do you know why the sauerkrau
6 you had for dinner tasted so good
provided. Of course, that you lik,
, sauerkraut? Or why the butter ant
cheese had such a pleasant taste?
1t was because of the bacteria IN
them. Yes, the same good old-fash.
, ioned bacteria you have always as
sociated with potamine poisoning
typhoid fever and diphtheria.
}. Bacteria can be useful forms of life
as well as disease producers and it is
the activities of both these forms that
are described in a new University bull
letin, Disease and Bacteria" by DIR.
o. W. II. Mitchell, of the School OF
Medicine. This bulletin is the first of
medical series to be issued quarter
ly and to treat the field of hygiene
and preventive medicine
| What bacteria look like and how
they live are among the first things
discussed i'm the bulletin. If you
should find some spherical, oval or
corkscrew-shaped bodies about 1-25,-
600 of an inch in size on your fingers
they would probably be bacteria. Or.
you might see them in the air, soil.
water. or on plants and the skin and
mucous surfaces of men and animals,
for they are plentiful i'm such places
Dust, water and milk contain them
in abundance. One place they are not
found is in the living tissues of healthy
plants and animals.
Use in Food Preparation.
Those who prepare food-stuffs. such
as certain meats and cheese, could not |
get along without bacteria, because /
they bring certain chemical changes.
Unfortunately, other kinds cause cider
to become hard, milk to sour and can
ned fruits to spoil.
Among the useful bacteria are also
those which transfer nitrogen from
air to soil for the use of plants, and
hose which cause decomposition of
lead organic matter, thus preparing a
food for plants.
But what about the pneumonia,
and other disease bac-
eria? There are plenty of these, too.
hough not nearly so many as of the
,ther kinds. The correct name of
hem, according to the bulletin, is the
bacteria, and their sue
,essful entry into living organic
issue is called Infection" If the in
lection is transmitted by contact with ;
hose having the disease it becomes ,
DIRTY fingers are excellent germ ,
;arriers," says the bulletin, in telling {
low bacteria get into the body. "The ,
surface of the body has bacteria on ,
t, the mouth, nose and upper respira- .
ory tract have them carried in at I,
ach breath and great numbers are +;
arried into the digestive tract with ,
he food" However, most of these
acteria, it further explains, cannot r
the body surface unless
through a cut or wound. Or they may
e introduced by the bite or sting of
lsects.
Each disease has its own special S
acteria. which will not grow unless e
ley get to certain tissues. 1t is be- u
eyed typhoid fever is never con- a
'acted unless the typhoid bacilli enter IL
lie digestive tract; that cerebro-
Dinal meningitis develops only when U
he bacteria reach the coverings of
lie brain cord. through the mouth and u
ose; that tuberculosis bacilli, to el
luse disease, must be breathed into D
lie lungs or be taken into the diges- u
We tract. This entering OF bacteria pl
ito the tissues is called "inoculation." al
Germs Are Stayers. al
Persons who have had certain dis "'
lses, as typhoid fever and diphtheria,
TRY the germs in their bodies for =
onths and even years and may in Il
ct other persons through discharges
ON the mouth, nose and throat.
Ptomaines are substances that bac-
ria produce when grown in the prop
foods. THE majority of these are
1t poisonous" says the bulletin,
nd the number of ptomaine poison
gs is comparatively few. One OF
e most common poisonous ptomaines
ours in the putrefaction of ice j
cam, milk and cheese"
But why not give up and die?"
me will say after reading of these
forms. The bacteria
e after us on all corners"
But wait. The bulletin explains
w the body resists such forms.
me bodies have natural immunity