The Coolidge examiner., 1935-10-11

parts OF til e
country have sporadic cases OF NAL
"a or undulant fever constantly.
they have never been threatened
with II In the epidemic form that
the dry southwest has. The agri.
cultural state OF Illinois. for In
stance. reported 96 cases from the
first OF January, 1885. through the
month OF July.
our knowledge OF Malta fever
came about I'm an interesting way.
The Island OF Malta In the MedIter-
ranean sea was an Important mill
tary base for Great Britain after
the Crlmean wars In 1853. There
many Of the English soldiers be-
came III with fever OF an unknown
and puzzllng origin. They were too
sick for military duty and suffered
from loss of weight, muscular weak
ness and fever over long periods
OF time. Then In 1857 Prof. David
Bruce OF England discovered the
germ causing this disease and
found that It was present in goats
milk. and that the female goat ex-
creted the germ I'm her milk. Boil
lng the goats milk prevented infec-
tions. II was further found that the
germ caused abortion In goats.
In 1897 Professor Wright OF Eng
land injected himself with a living
culture OF the germs and developed
the disease. He studied the course
OF the ailment upon himself and
found that he could use a blood test
10 diagnose the disease.
Scientists labeled the sickness
Malta fever" because II was lnves-
tlgated and worked out on the Is
land OF Malta. But the British gov
ernment objected 10 the name as re-
hecting upon one Of their island
possessions. They said the disease
had been found TO be prevalent in
the nelghborhood OF the Medlter-
ranean basin. and was not peculiar
to the island OF Malta. They sug.
gested II be called Mediterranean
fever. and. working through dIplo-
matte channels. caused the name
to be changed.
Professor Bang OF Denmark In
1887 discovered germ which
causes contagious abortion In cows.
Later II was learned that this germ
can cause In man n long protracted
Illness characterized by fever. weak
ness and loss Of weight. just as In
the case Of Malta fever. Because
Of the peculiar wavelike form OF
the fever curve this disease Is
called "undulant fever"
But undulant fever Is not primar.
lily a disease OF man. II Is In real.
ity a disease Of the unborn animal
OF the harnyard. Cows or hogs or
goats will carry the germ In their
bodies. but II does not cause dis
ease until they become pregnant.
and then the germ grows In the
womb and causes abortion OF the
young The aborting calf or pig con-
tains many millions OF these germs.
The mother animal does not seem
TO suffer as a result OF harborlng
these germs. Tie COW passes the
germs into the milk. and hence the
milk must be considered as n source
Of Infection. Pasteurizlng milk, how
ever. kills the Infection.
The veterinarian can help more
IN preventing undulant fever than
can the physician. The elimination
Of infectious abOrtlons In cattle and
pigs and goats will prevent the dis
ease in man. So long as we have
herds infected with this abortion
bacillus. the best way to prevent
undulant fever in man is to. avoid
contact with aborting animals and
to pasieuriZe milk before drinking.
If one cannot avoid contact with
abortlng animals. care should be
taken to prevent infection. This can
best be done by carefully washing
the hands after contact; If abrasiOns
or sores are present on the hands,
rubber gloves should be worn when
handling infected abortion material.
Care should be taken not to soil
the clothes. The afterbirth should
be burned or otherwise destroyed
so that 1t cannot infect pigs and
other barnyard animals.
Undulant fever is difficult to dis
tinguish from several other diseases,
but it can easily be identified by
laboratory tests, which can be made
in twenty-four hours.
A patient with undulant fever
has general muscular weakness, pro-
fuse sweating, fever at irregular
intervals and a progressive loss in
weight.
Treatment Of undulant fever has
remained unsatisfactory, although
many workers have been devoting
much time to 1t. Now comes a re-
port from several doctors at the
University of Cincinnati College of
Medicine that they have produced a
serum that has proved satisfactory
In a number of test cases. The cure
has not developed far enough for
general use, however.
q Western Newspaner Union.