26o BACTERIA, YEASTS, AND MOLDS 



are small; that our fathers and grandfathers have con- 

 sumed similar foods for generations and have suffered 

 only occasionally therefrom. It is therefore wiser not to 

 be overalarmed or to make Ufe burdensome by too great 

 precautions, but simply to use such care as may seem 

 feasible and possible in our homes, and not give up the 

 use of any desirable food because we know that it may 

 be an occasional source of danger. Some people have 

 actually given up the use of butter and milk because it 

 has been shown that they contain so many bacteria. Such 

 a procedure is sheer nonsense. The facts here outlined 

 have been given not for the purpose of inducing people 

 to avoid the use of such materials, but merely to suggest 

 to them the wisdom of adopting possible precautions against 

 consuming contaminated foods. 



Bacillus Carriers. It frequently happens that persons who 

 have had germ diseases continue for some time after recovery 

 to carry around in their bodies the bacteria of the disease. 

 Although the germs no longer do any harm to the recovered 

 patient, they are still as dangerous as ever if by any chance 

 they should reach another individual. Such persons are 

 called "baciUus carriers," and as long as they continue to 

 harbor these disease germs they are a source of danger to 

 their associates. Such bacillus carriers are particularly com- 

 mon after cases of typhoid fever and diphtheria. Recovered 

 typhoid patients have been known to carry active typhoid 

 bacilli for many years. In one famous case such a person 

 was employed as a cook, and for a period of twelve years 

 cases of typhoid fever appeared in all families shortly after 

 she was first employed by them as cook. Such bacillus car- 

 riers in a dairy have also been known to infect the milk and 



