FLESH AND MILK FROM TUBERCULOUS ANIMALS. 277 



Preventive Inoculation. In recent years claims have been 

 made that a method of preventive inoculation against this disease 

 has been found by using dried human tubercle bacilli for rendering 

 cattle immune. Considerable data have been collected as to the 

 success of this method, and it seems pretty certain that a considerable 

 degree of immunity can thus be given to cattle. It is yet too early 

 to say, however, whether this procedure will ever be a practical 

 method of handling the tuberculosis problem. 



THE USE OF FLESH AND MILK FROM 

 TUBERCULOUS ANIMALS. 



The practical question of the disposal of milk and flesh from 

 tuberculous animals is constantly arising. The answer is clearly 

 dependent upon whether the disease in men and animals is the 

 same. Since it is generally agreed that, if not the same, the two are so 

 nearly alike that they may be transmitted from one to the other, it 

 is the concensus of all that the possibility of transference through 

 flesh or milk should be guarded against. 



Flesh. Tubercular matter when fed to susceptible animals 

 may produce the disease in the animal experimented upon. From 

 this it follows that, if the human and bovine tuberculosis are the 

 same disease, mankind may be exposed to danger from eating the 

 flesh of tuberculous cattle. But there is no danger unless there 

 are tubercle bacilli in the part eaten. The tuberculous infection 

 of cattle is commonly in the lungs, intestines or lymphatic glands, 

 and only rarely are the muscles affected. 



If an animal has simply a tuberculous lymphatic gland, its 

 muscles are perfectly safe eating, unless they may have become 

 infected by the knife of the butcher which has previously cut 

 through some tuberculous mass in the animal. The danger to 

 man from eating tuberculous flesh is therefore slight. Further, 

 flesh is commonly cooked before it is eaten. Thorough cooking 

 will destroy the bacteria, but even the moderate cooking which 

 meat commonly receives is sufficient to destroy the bacteria upon 

 its surface, although the heat does not extend to the interior. 



