SEWAGE-POLLUTED OYSTERS AS A CAUSE OF TYPHOID AND 

 OTHER GASTROINTESTINAL DISTURBANCES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Many years ago attention was called to the fact that infected shell- 

 fish, when consumed raw, might cause outbreaks of typhoid fever, 

 cholera, and other intestinal diseases. This fact was especially 

 noticeable in densely populated European coast towns and cities, 

 near many of which were located extensive shellfish grounds grossly 

 contaminated with sewage. In this country the question of shell- 

 fish pollution has received greater attention since the epidemic of 

 typhoid fever traced to oysters at Wesley an University in 1894 and 

 the Lawrence outbreak in 1905, and particularly since the passage 

 of the food and drugs act of 1906. 



Since the season of 1908 the Bureau of Chemistry has been making 

 extensive investigations pertaining to the oyster industry, embracing 

 almost every feature of the problem, beginning with the examination 

 of oysters, dredged or tonged from their beds, and carried through 

 the various processes of handling until the oysters are ready for 

 the consumer. Approximately 2,000 samples have been examined 

 bacteriologically up to the present time, including oysters and clams, 

 either shucked or in the shell, and water samples collected from over 

 the grounds on which the shellfish grew. 



This report deals principally with an epidemic of typhoid fever and 

 other "gastrointestinal disturbances following the Minisink banquet, 

 given on October 5, 1911, at the Music Hall of Goshen, the county 

 seat of Orange County, New York State. Some individual cases, 

 especially at Rochester, N. Y., and the conditions surrounding the 

 smaller banquet of schoolmasters, held at Newburgh, N. Y., are also 

 reported. 



The author wishes to acknowledge, with thanks, valuable services 

 rendered by Dr. F. F. Russell, of the Army Medical School, Washing- 

 ton, D. C.; Dr. Wm. H. Park, New York City; Prof. H. W. Conn, 

 Middletown, Conn.; Prof. Frederick P. Gorham, Brown University, 

 Providence, R. I.; Dr. H. D. Pease, of the Lederle Laboratories, 

 New York City; Miss Ruth C. Greathouse, of the bacteriological labo- 

 ratory, Bureau of Chemistry; and the health officers, physicians, and 

 laymen who contributed valuable information relative to the Minisink 

 banquet. 



