238 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



latter experiments the milk of a rabid bitch having a litter of pup- 

 pies was inoculated intramuscularly into rabbits and guinea pigs, and 

 produced typical rabies ; but the puppies, removed from the mother 

 when the first symptoms developed, were kept under observation for 

 18 months without developing the disease. The reason for these neg- 

 ative results in the puppies may be explained (1) by not having 

 been bitten by the mother before she was removed, and (2) the ab- 

 sence of any abrasion in the alimentary tract through which the 

 virus could have entered the circulation. 



It is a generally accepted fact that rabies can not be transmitted 

 to normal animals through food containing the virus of the disease 

 unless lesions are present in the alimentary canal ; but the conclusion 

 that there is no danger to the consumer from the meat or milk of 

 animals that are rabid is not tenable, since abrasions of the lips, 

 mouth, and pharynx are all too frequent to permit of such risks. 

 These products must therefore be considered as dangerous to health. 



One case is on record where a baby in Cuba developed rabies 

 from nursing its mother while the latter was in the early stages of 

 hydrophobia. In this case, however, the virus in the milk may have 

 entered the circulation through abrasions of the gums during teeth- 

 ing. Similar cases have been reported in veterinary practice where 

 the virus of rabies was observed to have been passed to the offspring 

 through the mother's milk, but in these cases it is impossible to elim- 

 inate an obscure bite from the bitch or lesions of the gums during 

 this early age. While it is not probable that cattle would be milked 

 after the symptoms of rabies developed, it is nevertheless important 

 to realize the danger of using such milk and the necessity for pre- 

 venting calves from sucking such diseased cows. 



All attempts to convey the disease to healthy dogs by feeding 

 them upon meat from infected animals have given negative results. 

 Nevertheless the meat of rabid animals must be considered as unfit 

 for food, and the meat-inspection regulations enforced by the various 

 countries having such inspection provide for the total condemnation 

 of the carcasses of these animals. 



Infection has occurred in man from making autopsies on rabid 

 dogs, and it is likewise possible to result if inoculation occurs while 

 handling the meat of rabid cattle, hogs, or sheep. Ostertag reports 

 the case of a veterinary student at Copenhagen who infected a wound 

 on his finger while making an autopsy on a dog dead of rabies and 

 died of the disease. Another somewhat similar case occurred in a 

 veterinary student at Dresden in consequence of an injury received 

 while holding a post-mortem on a rabid dog. 



Wyrsykowski, in an attempt to discover the reason for the fact 

 that no illness followed the eating of the meat and even the brain of 

 rabid animals, tested the action of the gastric juice upon infectious 

 material in vitro. Twenty-one rabbits were inoculated with this ar- 

 tificially digested virus, but not one animal contracted the disease, 

 while all the 17 check rabbits which were inoculated with undigested * 

 rabies virus developed the disease and died. It is evident, therefore, 



