Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1915-08-10

two things, the widespread custom of
eating raw or rare beef and general
carelessnes in the disposal Of human
excreta. These cysts are immature
stages of tapeworms which develop to
maturity when eaten by human beings
in raw or imperfectly cooked beef.
Cattle acquire the cysts solely as a
result Of swallowing the eggs of the
tapeworm, which occur in enormous
numbers in the intestinal dejecta of
human tapeworm carriers. The propa-
cation of the parasite would be stopped
If no one ate beef unless it was thor
oughly cooked, or if human excreta
were universally disposed of in a sani-
tary manner.
The prevention of tapeworms in hui
man beings and of tapeworm cysts in
cattle is therefore essentially simple.
Beef should not be eaten raw or i'm
perfectly cooked. Dried beef, however,
may be eaten uncooked with impunity,
as tapeworm cysts will not withstand
the curing and drying to which this
product is subjected. AS a general
rule, however, uncooked meat is I'M
safe; raw pork is particularly danger
Gus because it is liable to be infested
with parasites known as trichinae,
which produce the serious disease
trichinosis.
Persons harboring tapeworms, espe-
cially if they live on farms where cat
tie are kept, should take appropriate
medicinal treatment for the removal
of the parasites under the direction Of
a physician.
Farms should be provided with sani-
tary privies (see Farmers Bulletin
463, in which various types of these
buildings are described). Particular
care should be taken that human in
testinal dejecta are not deposited in
barns, barnyards, pastures or in other
places favorable to the contamination
of grass, hay or other fodder or drink
ing water. The barnyard manure pile
is particularly Objectionable place,
as cattle commonly feed upon the hay
and straw which they find there.
Carelessness in the disposal of hui
man excreta on farms results lot only
in high percentage of illness from
typhoid fever and hookworm infesta-
ton, but also causes a great deal of
loss to the live stock industry from
parasitic infestation traceable to the
contamination Of grass, hay and other
fodder, and water by human excre-
ment.
Recently during the course of a
single year nearly $4,000 carcasses of
cattle slaughtered at establishments
operating under federal meat inspec-
ton were found by inspectors to be
infested with tapeworm cysts in the
muscles, so-called beef measles. This
represents a considerable loss IN the
meat supply of the country as car
casses affected with measles are Who'll
ly or partially condemned, according
to the degree of infestation. Portions
of affected carcasses which may be
passed for food after removal of the
cysts are required as an additional
safeguard to be refrigerated long
enough to destroy the vitality of any
parasites which might have been over
looked, thus entailing added expense
in the handling of the meat. In some
cases the meat from affected carcasses
is permitted to be sterilized by heat,
placed in cans and labeled and sold as
second grade meat.
The losses because of condemna-
ton, refrigeration and sterilization
are necessarily suffered by the pro-
Queer and the consumer in lower
prices for the live cattle on the one
hand, and higher prices for beef on
the other