prindeville] CHILDREN'S PETS AS DISEASE CARRIERS 261 



initial manifestations, before characteristic symptoms have ap- 

 peared 4 . 



It is not even necessary to be bitten in order to have the in- 

 fection transmitted 5 . "Transfer . . . has occurred through a 

 pimple, a slight abrasion of the skin, by the animal licking the 

 part." This, with the possibility of a long period of incubation 

 before the disease develops and of transmission before the animal 

 shows marked symptoms of the disease, makes hydrophobia a 

 much-to-be-dreaded infection. Some protection may perhaps be 

 afforded by keeping our pets from mingling freely with strange 

 animals, but the most effectual safeguard would seem to be that 

 which has been successfully employed in England and on the Con- 

 tinent — a uniform law for the muzzling of dogs and a strict quar- 

 antine of several months duration in the case of animals brought 

 in from other countries. 



Diphtheria also may be spread by children's pets. A distinc- 

 tion is made between the diphtheritic disease which sometimes 

 runs an epidemic-like course among large numbers of cats, and 

 human diphtheria. But whether or not the former disease is 

 caused by the same organism which causes human diphtheria, ex- 

 periments have shown that it is perfectly possible to cause lesions 

 in the cat by inoculations with the human diphtheria bacillus, and 

 this bacillus has moreover been repeatedly cultivated from ani- 

 mals closely associated 6 with diphtheria patients. It seems to be 

 well established that pet animals, especially cats, may be at least 

 occasional carriers of diphtheria. 



In 1905 the bacteriologist of the burgh of Govan conducted 

 some investigations 7 into the possibility of diphtheria infection 

 being carried by the lower animals. In two cases of diphtheria 

 he examined the family cat and obtained bacteria corresponding 

 in every respect to those of human diphtheria. In one case the cat 

 had been in the habit of sleeping with the child, and in the other 

 the child had been fondling the cat in his arms and kissing it. In 

 this same burgh five other cases of diphtheria were traced to in- 

 fection from a single cat. Three of the patients came from two 

 families living in adjoining properties, and the other two from a 

 house in an opposite tenement. In the circumscribed area of the 

 back courts of these buildings there had been a stray cat which 

 found a home in one of the families affected. This cat on exam- 



4 Jour. Am. M. Ass., 1908, 51, p. 2143. 



5 Loc. cit. 



6 Ibid., 1908, 50, p. 2067. 



7 Lancet, 1908, 1, p. 1143. 



