Infection of Milk. r 81 



erly heated, it has been found that the mortality rate 

 has been greatly reduced, thus indicating that the con- 

 dition of the milk was directly responsible for the death 

 rate. In fact, the mortality from these indefinite in- 

 testinal troubles probably exceeds that from all of the 

 specific infectious diseases combined. Improved care 

 in handling this sensitive food supply will do much to 

 better conditions in this direction. 



Ptomaine poisoning. Acute poisoning affecting 

 adults as well as children, not infrequently occurs from 

 the use of foods of various kinds. Cases of poisoning 

 arising from the use of shell fish, canned meats, ice 

 cream, cheese, and other dairy products, are from time 

 to time reported. These troubles are due to the pro- 

 duction of toxic compounds, in the main, probably 

 caused by bacterial decompositions. Often such trou- 

 bles may affect a number of persons, as at banquets 

 and such gatherings, thereby giving the semblance of 

 an epidemic. While such troubles are doubtless to be 

 ascribed to bacterial activity, they are not transmis-. 

 sible from person to person. 



In the case of troubles arising from ice cream and 

 such confections, the probable cause is due to the stor- 

 age of milk or cream under refrigerator conditions, 

 where germ growth can go on in the product, and yet 

 the temperature be sufficiently low to prevent the usual 

 acid fermentations. 



