DISEASE GERMS IN MILK IOI 



the soil with the drainage, or may run over the surface with 

 rain-water and eventually find their way into wells, brooks or 

 rivers. Sewage frequently drains directly into rivers. The 

 water thus becomes infected with the typhoid bacilli, which may 

 remain alive for some time ; subsequently such water may infect 

 the milk in several ways. If the milkman has the dishonest 

 practice of watering his milk, the chance of contagion is evi- 

 dent. But it is also a common practice for the dairyman to 

 cool milk by submerging the milk cans in cold water nearly 

 sufficient to cover them. Under these circumstances, the cans 

 become covered with water containing typhoid fever germs, 

 and there will occasionally be an opportunity for some of them 

 to pass into the milk pails, so that the milk will thus be in- 

 fected. 1 It is even possible for such contaminated water to 

 get into the milk cans in the course of washing the cans. If 

 milk cans are washed in water that has not been boiled, or 

 are rinsed in cool water, or if they are washed with cloths 

 that have been rinsed in cold water, there is always a possibility 

 of the introduction of typhoid germs into milk. One very severe 

 typhoid epidemic at Stamford was caused by rinsing cans in 

 cold water after washing them in hot water. 2 Lastly, cows 

 wading in such polluted water may get the typhoid germs on 

 their udders and teats, from which entrance to the milk is 

 easy. One typhoid epidemic 3 of 43 cases was traced to the use 

 of whey from a cheese factory. 



It may seem that the chance of infection from these sources 

 is remote, and that under no conditions could many bacteria 

 find their way into the milk. These are undoubtedly correct 

 inferences, but in dealing with typhoid fever we have one source 

 of danger that does not occur in the distribution of tuberculosis. 

 Typhoid bacteria multiply in the milk. As a result, if from 

 any one of these sources a very small number, perhaps even 



1 Sedgwick and Chapin. Bost. Med. and Sur. Jour., p. 129, 1893. 



2 Smith. Rep. of the Stamford Typhoid Epidemic, New Haven, 1895. 



3 Dabney. Phila. Med. News, 63, 1893. 



