CONTROL OK llACTKlilAL JJlSEASES 243 



surface and at the center ol" the nuiss they were swarniinc^, 

 and the • temperature there was only 28° C. Tin's proN rd 

 that '' ordmary hakin<r merely incubates the interior of these 

 masses of food." ^ 



At a Gettysburg soldiers' reunion one of the men "not f«M^ling very 

 well" was assigned mess duty. As a conseciuence (probably of his 

 luindling the bread) fifty-five of the company developed typhoid. 



Naturally extreme danger attaches to contact infection of focxls in 

 which bacteria may multii)ly — lobster, shellfish, cooked meats, and es- 

 pecially milk. Formerly e[)idemics following the eating of these things 

 were explained on the theory of "ptomaine poisoning" — that is, that 

 poisons (ptomaines) were formed by bacterial growtli iu ihe suV>stance, 

 which were not destroyed by heat. Jordan says of this : " Many of the 

 epidemics of 'meat poisoning 'etc. are now known to be due to infection 

 with a specific microorganism rather than to the action of a formed 

 poison."- Milk is a most favorable culture medium for bacterial growth, 

 and naturally many epidemics are traced to it. Cha})in gives the follow- 

 ing figures : 315 outbreaks of typhoid, 125 of scarlet fever, 51 of diph- 

 theria, and 7 of tonsillitis (e^tidemic sore throat). Immediate report to 

 the board of health of the milk route on which a case of illness occurs 

 nuikes it possible to nip nuiny an epidemic in the bud, a visit to the dairy 

 generally revealing the source of the infection. 



Recent outbreaks of typhoid on two milk routes in Hartford, Con- 

 necticut, — 12 cases in September, 1914, and 34 cases in November, — 

 were traced to the same carrier, an occasional milker, who had moved 

 from one dairy to the other. 



All the typhoid, 21 cases, in a ^Minnesota town for five years was 

 traced to one carrier in a dairy. ^ 



An epidemic of dii>litheria in Lincoln, Nebraska, of 110 cases and 

 2 deaths (07 received antitoxin promptly, and none of these died) was 

 traced to a di]»htheretic "sore throat " of a milker. The numey cost to 

 the community of this "trilling sore throat " is estimated at $10,000, in 

 addition to the suffering, labor of nursing, and the 2 deaths. ■* 



^ Sawyer, Journal of the American Medical Association. 1".»14. p. 1537. 

 2 Jordan, General Bacteriology, p. 101. 



8 H.^V. Hill, American Journal of Puhlir Ihalth, Vol. IV (11»14), p. OCT. 

 * Wait, " Report of Milk-borne Epidemic of Diphtheria,'' American 

 Journal of Public HeaUh, Vol. IV (1014), p. 418. 



