DISEASES COMMUNICABLE IN MILK 61 



infected with Bad. abortus. He believes that antibodies appearing in this 

 way indicate passive immunity due to the absorption in the larger intes- 

 tine of antibodies from the infected milk and that there is no proof that 

 Bad. abortus is pathogenic to man.. 



Sore Teats. Udder-borne infections have been imputed to teat sores 

 and Savage notes two instances in which diphtheria germs have been iso- 

 lated from the ulcerated teats of cows belonging to herds supplying dairies 

 that were implicated in outbreaks of the disease. * It was not believed that 

 diphtheria germs caused the sores but that the diphtheria was an added 

 infection for which the milkers were responsible. Whether organisms 

 that cause these sores are ever dangerous is not known; they may be so, 

 but at present they are regarded lightly. 



Gastro -enteritis Caused by Udder Infection. Hoist in 1894, reported 

 four different outbreaks of gastro- enteritis in Christiania, Norway, that 

 were traced to the consumption of the milk of cows affected with strepto- 

 coccic mastitis. Lameris also, concluded that diarrhea may be caused 

 by the use of milk of cows suffering from streptococcial infection of the 

 udder. Others also, have reported outbreaks caused in this way. Gron- 

 ing and Hoist have instanced cases where the milk had been boiled before 

 those who partook of it were made ill. So there is the question whether 

 the boiling was not thorough enough to kill the organisms or whether 

 the bacteria elaborated poisons that were not destroyed by the heat 

 applied. 



In the United States one of the most definite outbreaks of this sort 

 occurred in Gibbsborough and Berlin, N. J., on Oct. 15, 1915, on the milk 

 route of dealer A who was supplied by three dairymen each of whose milk 

 he bottled separately. On the day in question A put out 82 qt. of milk 

 in all, 13 qt. of D's, 11 of C's and 58 of B's. Sixty pint bottles which were 

 all that A delivered that day, except a few of D's milk that certainly did 

 not cause illness, were filled with B's milk as were 28 quart bottles. Only 

 13 other quart bottles were put out by A that day. The bulk of the milk 

 was produced and bottled on the 14th. In the two towns there were 55 

 cases of gastro-enteritis, simulating ptomaine poisoning and giving one or 

 more of the symptoms of vomiting, dizziness, headache, prostration, pains 

 in the stomach and diarrhea. All of the victims used dealer A's milk and 

 among them were some of his own family. Because in 23 of the families 

 that were attacked, pint bottles of dairyman B's were used and because his 

 milk was in all probability used in eight invaded homes that took milk in 

 quart bottles suspicion was fastened on his dairy. Investigation disclosed 

 that two of B's own children who used the milk were stricken with pains 

 in the stomach and vomiting and that the herd had been tended by a hired 

 man but that when the sickness broke B examined the herd and on finding 

 a cow with a bruised udder and injured teat, discharged the man and dis- 

 carded the milk of the cow. Veterinary examination indicated that the 



