BACTERIA IN WATER AND MILK. 
Ill 
diately cooled to 5 0 C. (40° F.) and kept at this tem¬ 
perature until used. Milk to be used in feeding infants 
should be modified and poured into the nursing bottles 
before being pasteurized. It should be used within 
twenty-four hours. The pasteurization kill all the bac¬ 
teria, but not the spores. If the milk is cooled as di¬ 
rected, the spores will not develop. 
The bacteria usually present in milk are harmless 
in so far as they are able to produce specific disease; 
but while they may be considered harmless for healthy 
adults, they may be very dangerous for infants and 
sick persons. The great loss of life among infants 
under 2 years of age from intestinal or diarrheal dis¬ 
eases show this. During the summer months, when 
the number of bacteria is more than at any other time 
of the year, the milk undergoes chemical changes which 
lead to disturbances in digestion and infection of the 
intestines. 
Diseases other than these caused by the ordinary 
dirt bacteria may be spread in milk. Many epidemics 
of scarlet fever, typhoid fever, and diphtheria have 
been traced to infected milk. The infection is intro¬ 
duced into the milk at the dairy, usually by someone 
sick with the disease in question. 
The transmission of tuberculosis in the milk from 
tuberculous cattle is believed to be of common occur¬ 
rence, particularly among infants. The tubercle bacilli 
may pass through the walls of the intestine without 
causing any disease of the intestinal wall itself, and 
lodge in the mesenteric lymphatic glands. They may 
Disease 
transmitted 
by milk 
