THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 75 



children under 5 years of age coming under his observation clearly 

 manifested the bovine type of tubercle bacilli, and bore convincing 

 evidence of the commimicability of bovine tuberculosis to man. 



In a later recent investigation by Park and Krumwiede in the 

 research laboratory of the department of health, New York City, 1 the 

 actual number of cases examined was 436, the largest number included 

 so far in a single investigation. Two hundred and ninety-seven 

 related to persons over 16 years of age (278 being pulmonary), only 

 1 of which indicated bacilli of the bovine type, but in 54 cases of 

 children between 5 and 16 years 9 exhibited bacilli of the bovine type. 

 In 84 cases under 5 years of age 22 individuals were infected with 

 bovine bacilli. In a total of 1,040 cases of human tuberculosis studied 

 and recorded in literature from which pure cultures of tubercle 

 bacilli have been obtained and identified Park and Krumwiede place 

 686 of these cases in the group comprising patients of 16 years and 

 over, and 9 of these patients exhibited bacilli of the bovine type ; 132 

 cases in the group of patients between 5 and 16 years old showed 33 

 to be infected with bovine bacilli, while in the group including chil- 

 dren under 5 years of age, comprising 120 cases, 59 (or admost 50 per 

 cent) proved to be of the bovine bacillary type. The larger propor- 

 tion of the cases showing the bovine type of bacilli consisted of infec- 

 tions of the abdomen and of the glands of the neck, while in not a 

 single case of pulmonary tuberculosis have bacilli of undoubted 

 bovine origin been found. 2 



It has further been demonstrated with scientific exactitude that 

 bovine tubercle bacilli are of a most virulent type and when ingested 

 by human beings with cow's milk continue their virulence in the 

 human body. 



BRITISH TUBERCULOSIS ORDER OF 1909. 



Confirmatory of the position taken by the American authorities 

 as to the infection of human beings with tuberculosis from bovine 

 sources is the action of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries of 

 Great Britain in issuing, under date of May 27, 1909. the Tuber- 

 culosis order of 1909, setting forth that 



So far as regards the possibility of the transmission of the disease from 

 affected bovine animals to man, the board are satisfied that it must now be 

 accepted as a fact that tuberculosis is transmissible by the agency of milk 

 used for human consumption. 



The board proceeds further to state that 



Any action which results in the reduction in the number of tuberculous 

 bovine animals in the country must reduce the risk of the spread of tuber- 

 culosis amongst the community, and if it were possible to eradicate from this 

 country [Great Britain] the disease in animals, a material step forward would 

 have been taken in the campaign against the disease in man. 



RESULTS OF INVESTIGATIONS BY GERMAN AND BRITISH COMMISSIONS. 



In a series of tests conducted by the German commission on tuber- 

 culosis, over 10 per cent of the cultures of tubercle bacilli of human 

 origin were found to be virulent for cattle, and in a similar investi- 



iPark, W. H., and Krumwiede, Charles, jr.: The Relative Importance of the Bovine 

 and Human Types of Tubercle Bacilli in the Different Forms of Human Tuberculosis, 

 Journal of Medical Research, Vol. XXIJI, 205 O1ft 



2 Journal of American Medical Association, Vol. LV, No. 26, Dec. 14, 1910, 



