CONSUMPTION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 24, 11 January 1912, Page 2

CONSUMPTION.

MILK AS A CARRIER

RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS ON GUINEA-PIGS. Tiie Public Health Committee submited at a recent meeting of the London County Council, a summary or the report of the Royal Commifion on Tuberculosis, and .-fated that it “indicates the need for more ample powers than are now possessed by cue Council for the exclusion of tuberculosis milk from London and the desirability of the cont'nu.rl exercise of existing powers until the subject can bo dealt with in a comprehensive manner by Parliament. Mr. Walter Reynolds produced a report from the Lister institute which, lie said had cost the Council 600 guineas, and had taken a year to prepare. To obtain this report the Lister Institute inoculated 9016 guinea pigs, with milk sediment from samples, of milk received for examination for the presence of tubercle bacilli. One-third of the guinea pigs died from causes other than tuberculosis. Search was made in the samples for bacilli pathogenic to man, but neither typhoid, diphtheria, nor dysentery bacilli or bacilli of the food-poisoning group were found. The Results. Of the guinea-pigs who died after the period of infection, the Jcport 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 bites tines of the healthy guinea pig. But the most remarkable feature of the report, said Mr. Reynolds, was the fact that the milk from single cows presenting evidence of tuberculosis produced no higher mortality among the guinea-pigs than the milk mixed from ordinary cow r s. The conclusion arrived at was that the milk sediment injected lowered the general health, so that a disease which ,vas latent or chronic was able to progress to a fatal issue, or that bacilli normally present in the intestines were niabled to escape into the circulation and cause death. With such a report as this, which was now r in the hands of Mr. Burns, one could not wonder, said Mr. Reyaolds, at the hesitation which marked she attitude of the President of the Local Governing Board. .The result af the experiment's showed that bovine tuberculosis was not commuicablo to man through milk.