100 Dairy Bacteriology. 



been traced to polluted milk supplies. An outbreak oc- 

 curred at East Orange, 1 New Jersey, a few years ago in 

 wbich from one to four cases developed in each of sixteen 

 families. The cause of the outbreak was traced to the son 

 of the milkman who, soon after convalescence from an at- 

 tack of the disease, resumed his work as milker. 



Diarrhoeal diseases. Milk not infrequently acquires the 

 property of producing diseases of the digestive tract by 

 reason of the development of various bacteria that form 

 more or less poisonous by-products. These troubles occur 

 most frequently during the summer months, especially with 

 infants and children, as in cholera infantum and summer 

 complaint. The higher mortality of bottle-fed infants 2 in 

 comparison with those that are nursed directly is explicable 

 alone on the theory that cows' milk is the carrier of the 

 infection, because in many cases it is not consumed until 

 there has been ample time for the development of organisms 

 in it. As a cause of sickness and death these diseases ex- 

 ceed in importance all other specific diseases previously 

 referred to. 



The cause of these troubles is not to be ascribed to any 

 specific kind of bacteria, but there are undoubtedly a large 

 number of organisms which are able to develop toxic sub- 

 stances in food products, especially in milk. In some cases 

 it appears that the development of the poisonous products 

 takes place in the intestines after the food is ingested. The 

 origin of these bacteria is in all probability due to the in- 

 troduction of dirt and filth that find their way into the 

 milk at the time of milking. Fliigge 3 has pointed out the 



i Boston Med. Journ., 1897, 136: 44. 

 a Baginsky, Hyg. Rund., 1895, p. 176. 

 Flttgge, Zeit. f. Hyg., 17: 272. 



