prindeville] CHILDREN'S PETS AS DISEASE CARRIERS 263 



The dog had been ailing for some time and according to the 

 symptoms described seemed to have had diphtheria accompanied 

 by partial paralysis of the legs. The first girl had been feeding 

 him pills for his indisposition and probably caught the infection 

 a few days after the beginning of his illness. The dog could not 

 have caught the infection from her as a strict quarantine was 

 kept and the animal was not allowed in the house after she be- 

 came ill. The second girl played with the dog almost constantly 

 after her sister became ill, and is supposed to have caught the 

 infection from him in spite of the small dose of antitoxin which 

 had been administered to her three and one-half weeks previously. 

 It was thought hardly possible that the infection could have come 

 from the first girl, as conscientious gargling was kept up and a 

 bacteriological examination at the time of the second girl's illness 

 showed absence of diphtheria bacilli. But in the dog's throat 

 bacilli were found from which typical blood serum and broth cul- 

 tures were made and injected into two guinea pigs. Antitoxin 

 was given to one pig but not to the other. The latter died and on 

 examination was found to have developed a typical diphtheria 

 membrane, while the formation of a membrane in the former 

 had been prevented by the antitoxin. 



The transmission of other diseases by children's pets has 

 been suggested. M. Courmont, a French scientist, believes that 

 he has established in his investigations 3 that typhoid bacilli may 

 be carried in the alimentary canal of the dog without doing the 

 animal any harm, while the contagion may be spread in the same 

 way as by human carrier. It has been suggested also that animals 

 might assist in the spread of infantile paralysis by carrying the 

 fleas which may be the real treasmitters of the infection. Conn 4 

 favors this theory as best accounting for the phenomena in an 

 epidemic in Middletown, Connecticut. Conn by no means thinks 

 this theory established, and indeed further evidence to corroborate 

 both this and Courmont's theory of the dog's part in the trans- 

 mission of typhoid bacilli would be welcomed. 



It can not be doubted, however, that, as evidenced by the 

 cases cited above, hydrophobia and diphtheria may be and often 

 are transmitted by cats and dogs. Precautions should be taken 

 to prevent the animal's contracting infection, by keeping it from 

 roaming the streets, for example, and new pets should be made to 

 pass through a period of probation. 



3 Bull. de l'Academie de Med., Paris, 1910, 63, p. 660. 

 4 Rep. State Bd. Health, Connecticut, 1910, p. 115. 



