Bovine Tuberculosis ; Relation to Infant Mortality 1841 



berculosis existing in New York City is due to the bovine type of 

 bacilli, and therefore caused probably by milk infection and that 

 something over two per cent, of the total deaths from tuberculosis 

 are due to bovine bacilli. In little children probably 10 per cent, 

 of the total deaths are due to the bovine type. The percentage 

 of tuberculous glands in young children due to bovine bacilli is 

 fully thirty per cent." 



The following table compiled by Dr. Wm. H. Park and Dr. 

 Chas. Krumwiede shows '^ The Relative Importance of the Bovine 

 and Human Typos of Tubercle Bacilli in Different Forms of 

 Human Tuberculosis." 



Percentage of Bovine Infection Adults Children Children 



If! years 5 to 16 under 5 



Diagnosis and over years years 



Pulmonary tuberculosis 



Tuberculosis adenitis, cervical 4 37 57 



Abdominal tuberculosis 16 50 6S 



Generalized tuberculosis 3 40 26 



Tubercular meningitis (with or without gen- 

 eralized lesions) 15 



Tuberculosis of bones and joints 5 3 



^Dr. Knopf, of ]^ew York, says that "■ in children * * *, 

 bovine tuberculosis is responsible for a very large percentage of 

 cervical, alimentary, and bone and joint tuberculous affections ; 

 and since milk is the principal food of infants and young children 

 we must hold the tuberculous cow responsible for the large per- 

 centage of tuberculosis in childhood." 



There is much apprehension felt among fanners concerning the 

 economic loss caused by tuberculosis in cattle and methods of 

 preventing the spread of the disease are eagerly sought. One of 

 the most feasible plans proposed is to cause all butter factories 

 and creameries to sterilize their skimmed buttermilk or whey 

 before returning it to the fanners. 



We have so far learned of no general effort to protect the 

 children of the fanners themselves from the same danger. Unlike 

 the germs of tilth, the germ of tuberculosis does not increase 

 rapidly on its way from the farm to the city. On the contrary 

 there is no evidence to prove that it ever multiplies under such 

 conditions and we know positively that both the number and the 



1 " Primary Sources of Tuberculous Infection," read at the annual meeting 

 of the Medical Society of the State of New York at Albany, April 16, 1912. 



