STATUS OF PASTEURIZATION 01 ^XIJxA. 3 



which causes the disease is definitely knpwij.it is imp-^ssjljje. i<; say 

 that it affords absolute protection. 



Since it is quite generally believed that the streptococci are the 

 causative agents of septic sore throat, the ability of certain of this 

 group of organisms to stand temperatures above that of pasteuriza- 

 tion naturally presents a grave situation. If pathogenic streptococci 

 are able to survive the usual process of pasteurization, the value of 

 the process, from a sanitary standpoint, is materially lowered. 



Experience with the use of properly pasteurized milk and the de- 

 termination of the thermal death point of pathogenic streptococci 

 by various investigators indicate very clearly, however, that the 

 thermal death point of these organisms is relatively low and that 

 they are readily destroyed by proper pasteurization. Thus Ham- 

 burger (IT), who studied the epidemic of septic sore throat in 

 Baltimore in 1912, traced this epidemic to a certain milk supply. 

 Advice was given to boil all milk, and the dairy connected with 

 the epidemic raised the temperature of its flash pasteurization to 

 160 F. ; then it changed to the holder process by which the milk 

 was heated to 145 F. and held for a period of 30 minutes. The 

 cases of sore throat that followed were neither so severe nor so 

 numerous and did not follow the milk supply, but appeared to 

 have been transmitted from individual to individual. Hamburger 

 (18) also found that a streptococcus isolated from a patient having 

 a case of sore throat was killed by heating in milk at 145 F. for 

 30 minutes. 



Again, Capps and Miller (12) who studied the Chicago epi- 

 demic of septic sore throat, traced it to a dairy where the milk was 

 pasteurized by the flash process at 160 F. On certain dates they 

 found that there was a pronounced failure to pasteurize and follow- 

 ing these dates there were outbreaks of septic sore throat. These 

 authors believed that the final responsibility for the epidemic rested 

 on the inadequate and unreliable pasteurization. They state that 

 the absolute protection of the children of the Michael Reese Hos- 

 pital from infection by efficient pasteurization demonstrates this 

 point. Bray (11), who studied an epidemic of tonsillitis of tuber- 

 culous patients, traced the epidemic to a milk supply of one farm 

 where a carrier presumably infected the milk. Forty cases of 

 tonsillitis resulted among 400 people. As soon as the epidemic 

 broke out the milk was pasteurized, and from that time only 1 

 case appeared. 



From the results achieved from the proper pasteurization of milk 

 it seems evident that the thermal death point of pathogenic strep- 

 tococci, which cause septic sore throat, is relatively low. This belief 



