MICROBIAL FOOD POISONING 583 



animals ordinarily considered wholesome. This custom is certainly 

 an ancient one, and is doubtless founded upon observation of un- 

 favorable results following the consumption of such food. Exact 

 knowledge of the nature of the diseases transmitted in this way is a 

 more modern development, and this more exact knowledge is now 

 being applied to some extent through food-inspection regulations to 

 prevent the transmission of such diseases. 



Tuberculosis of cattle has been shown by Smith to be due to a germ 

 somewhat different from that causing the ordinary human tuberculosis, 

 and this discovery has called into question the necessity of avoiding 

 the use of food products from tuberculous animals. After a con- 

 siderable amount of controversy it may now be regarded as definitely 

 established that the bovine type of tubercle bacillus is capable of 

 infecting man, and that a very considerable proportion of cases of 

 tuberculosis in children is due to this type of organism, the infection 

 probably arising through the use of milk from tuberculous animals. 

 Anthrax, glanders, actinomycosis and acute enteritis of animals are 

 transmissible to man. Food products from animals afflicted with 

 these diseases should not be used until they have been passed upon by 

 competent authority. Further information concerning them will be 

 found in the sections dealing with these particular diseases. 



The human disease known as septic sore throat may be due to in- 

 fection with streptococci present in cow's milk. Careful investigations 

 by various independent workers have shown that these virulent strep- 

 tococci may be derived from infected udders of the cows and the same 

 studies indicate that the infection in the cow may be derived primarily 

 from human sources. In some rare instances the disease in the cow 

 has been traced to the introduction of a milking tube into the teat 

 canal to facilitate the flow of milk and the evidence against the practice 

 is sufficient to warrant its prohibition. 



In this connection it may be mentioned that some of the animal 

 parasites, especially trichinae and various sorts of tapeworms, gain 

 access to the human body with the food. Thorough cooking usually 

 serves to kill these parasites, as well as the pathogenic bacteria, but 

 ordinary cooking should not be too implicitly relied upon to accomplish 

 this result. 



