FOODS AND PUBLIC HEALTH 7 



only recently, it probably has been prevalent for many years. This 

 disease comes from infected cattle, not from humans, and is spread by 

 milk. While the disease is contracted principally from milk, those who 

 handle the meat or carcasses of diseased animals may become infected. 



Undulant fever gets its name from the nature of the illness in man. 

 The patient suffers from intermittent spells of fever and other symptoms. 

 He may feel quite well between attacks, and think that he has recovered, 

 only to suffer a relapse. This may go on for weeks, with the patient up 

 and down. In its early fever stage the disease may be mistaken for ty- 

 phoid fever, and no doubt many such diagnoses are made. Later, pains 

 may develop in joints and muscles, and be attributed to rheumatic fever 

 or arthritis. Sometimes there are intestinal symptoms that may lead 

 to a mistaken diagnosis of appendicitis, and useless operation may follow. 

 The death rate from undulant fever is low, but the sufferers are likely 

 to be disabled for so long a time that the disease is economically im- 

 portant. 



There is a blood test by which contagious abortion in cattle can be 

 detected, and many states have programs for the systematic testing of 

 dairy herds and the elimination of infected animals. Excellent results 

 have been reported, comparable with those achieved in the eradication 

 of tuberculosis. 



In addition to those described above, other diseases, particularly of 

 the intestinal tract, may be spread by milk. Among these diseases are 

 bacillary dysentery, paratyphoid fever (a mild disease resembling typhoid 

 fever), and "summer complaint" of young children. These diseases are 

 from human sources, and the contamination of milk takes place in much 

 the same way as that described for typhoid fever. 



Preventive Measures 



How may the public be protected from the spread of the diseases 

 described above? Public health authorities in each city or town, as well 

 as state health boards, should, and usually do, exercise control of the 

 sanitation of dairy farms and milk depots. This includes, of course, in- 

 spection of employees in these places. Then there are the cow-testing 

 programs for detection of tuberculosis and contagious abortion already 

 referred to. The consumer must take additional precautions to see that 

 he gets a safe milk. If he wants raw milk, he should be certain that the 

 milk he buys is produced and handled with the utmost care and clean- 

 liness. If he cannot get satisfactory information about the dairy he 

 patronizes, he had better buy pasteurized milk. 



Arguments for or against pasteurized milk are not within the scope 

 of this bulletin, but a brief statement is not out of order. In the first 

 place, properly pasteurized milk is safe milk. Public health authorities 

 state (2) that milk-borne typhoid fever is always traceable to raw milk. 

 There is no instance on record of an epidemic from a properly pasteurized 

 milk supply. An equally emphatic statement is made (2) concerning all 

 milk-borne diseases. 



One of the arguments against pasteurization is that it destroys certain 

 nutritive properties of the milk, especially vitamins. However, if there 

 is any question about the sanitary quality of a milk supply, one can 

 well afford to buy pasteurized milk and depend upon other foods for 

 vitamins. An extensive survey made by the United States Public Health 



