AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 23, Issue 6, 23 January 1912, Page 4

AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY

MILK NOT A MEDIUM FOR . TUBERCULOSIS. The Public Health Committee submitted at a recent meeting of the London County Council a summary of the report of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, and stated that it “ indicates the need for more ample powers than are now possessed by the Council for the exclusion of tuberculosis milk from London and the desirability of the continual exercise of existing powers until the subject can be dealt within a comprehensive manner by Parliament.” Mr Walter Reynolds produced areport from the Lister Institute which, hesaid had cost the Council 300'guineas, and had taken a year to prepare. To obtain this report the Lister Institute Inoculated 9016 guinea pigs with milk sediment. Irom samples of, milk received for examination for the presence of tubercle bacilli. One third of the guinea pigs diedfrom causes other than tuberculosis. Search was made in the samples for bacilli pathogenic to man, but neither typhoid, diphtheria, nordysentery bacilli or bacilli of the food-poisoning group were found; Of the guinea-pigs "that died after the period of infection, the report stated that the bacilli were probably derived from the guinea pig itself, and not from the milk injected, as " the lactose fermenting organisms ” were frequently found in the intestines of the healthy guinea pig. But the ' most remarkable feature of the report, said Mr Reynolds, was the fact that milk from single cows presenting evidence of tuberculosis produced no higher mortality among the guinea-pigs than the milk from ordinary cows. ’ ‘ The conclusion arrived at was that the milk sediment injected lowered the , general health so that a'disease which was latent or chronic was able to progress to a fatal issue, or that bacilli normally present in the intestines were enabled to esbape. into the circulation and cause death. , With such a report as this, which was now in the hands of Mr Burns, one could not wonder, said Mr Reynolds, at the hesitation which marked the attitude of the President of the Local Governing Board. The result of the experiments showed that bovine tuberculosis was notcommunicable to man through milk.