THRESH : OYSTERS AS DI SSRMIXATORS OF DISEASE. 3 



cannot conve}' Typhoid Fever because tlie Typhoid organism 

 lias not been proved to be capable of living in salt water. This 

 is quite a mistake, for Professor de Giaxa, in the Bacteriological 

 Laboratory at Naples, found that when Typhoid Bacilli were 

 introduced into sea-water, thc}^ at first multiplied rapidly, but 

 afterwards gradually died. Many, however, were still present 

 on the ninth day. Cholera Bacilli disappeared more rapidly, the 

 rate at which they decreased being dependent upon the number 

 of other, non-pathogenic, organisms also present. Experiments 

 were also made with oysters and other shell fish by inoculating 

 them with the microbes of Cholera and Anthrax. After the shell 

 fish had been replaced in sea water it was found that the microbe 

 had disappeared in six hours. No experiments, with the Typhoid 

 Organisms, appear as yet to have been made on these lines. It 

 has, however, been pointed out that although the organisms 

 introduced within the shells speedily die, that those which may 

 be adherent to the edge of the shell may survive some time, and 

 would be introduced into the oyster during the process of opening. 

 Professor Crookshank, of King's College, who has recently made 

 a series of bacteriological experiments with Oysters from a certain 

 bed, says, that whilst the danger has been exaggerated, yet he 

 is " convinced that it is quite possible that just as unboiled milk 

 mixed with typhoid-infected water may distribute typhoid fever 

 amongst the consumers, so also the liquid of uncooked oysters 

 may be the means of conveying typhoid fever, if water infected with 

 typhoid fever is imprisoned between the valves of the oyster." 



The investigations which have been made by the special 

 correspondent of the British Medical Journal and by well-known 

 Medical Officers of Health prove conclusively that in several 

 localities, sewage is discharged in dangerous proximity to the 

 beds on which oysters are cultivated, and it is to be hoped that 

 now that attention has been called to the matter, that this source 

 of danger will speedily be removed. The Local Government 

 Board, fully alive to the danger, has ordered an enquiry to be 

 made, upon the possibility of Cholera and Typhoid Fever being 

 conveyed by Oysters and other Molluscs which are consumed in 

 an uncooked condition. 



The scare has had a most serious effect upon the oyster 

 industry, and no doubt will continue to affect it, until the public 

 is assured that all possible precautions have been taken to 

 prevent the pollution by sewage of all waters in which Oysters 

 and other such Molluscs are bred or fattened. 



