CONSUMPTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13243, 25 March 1907, Page 7

CONSUMPTION.

V •■—■■■ - ■ .), :^' Daily >The long : debated (luestihnjjs. to whether tuberculosis is or is not transmissible'from, the anhnal. to; : the human 'being is answered; emphatically iid; the Tar as' the bovine animal is concefeieil, in the .second interim report of, Royal Commission on Human and Animal Tuberculosis. Ihus Dr Koch's welUlcnown theory is. directly challenged. , i'The following are the conclusions arrived af> from which it will be., s>en that the: Oommissioners are equally ' emphatic in urging that the utmost care >hould be exercised :in regard toi the .supply of rriilk::—.-'.;., ', ■ ■'':.-■>'' ■;';:.: '.' 5" There can be no doubt but that in a I i&rtain" number of cases the -tuberculosis !of|curring" in the human subject,. especially in; cliildren, is the direct result of the inv traduction into the human; body of the '■bacillus*;of bovine tuberculosis : and there; ialso can be no doubt that in the majority;. ■ah least'of these case* the bacillus is''iritn>:diiced through' cows' milk. Cows' millc" c^ritairifSgibovine tubercle bacilli is clearly.. a cause of tuberculosis and of fatal t.uberv culosis~iti~ihari. : ' • ' '" -■'* _L'Qf the. sixty cases of human tuberculosis, investigated by us fourteen of the virtues belonged to Group I.; that is t osay, con-. fained the bovine baccillus. If. insteadof taking all these sixty cases, we confine ourselves to cases of tuberculosis in which the bacilli were apparently introduced into the body by: way of the alimentary canalj the proportion of Group I. became very much larger; " Of the total sixty cases investigated by us twenty-eight possessed clinical histories indicating that in them the bacillus was introduced through the alimentary canal. Of these thirteen belong to Group 1. Of the nine cases in which cervical glands wsre studied by us, three. ' and of the the nineteen cases in which ihe le-ioris of abdominal tuberculosis were studied by us, ten, belong to Group I. " These facts indicate that a very large proportion of tuberculosis contracted by ingestion is due to tubercle bacilli of bivine I source,

"■ A very ttonsiueiaoie .uuoum ui ui.-«'» :,nd loss "of life, especially aiiioim the young, must be attributed to the .-onMimp iion of cows' milk containing tubercle ba i-illi. The pie-em-e of tubercle bacilli in iows' milk can be detected, though with some difficulty, if the . proper means be adopted and such milk ought never to be used as food. " There is far less difficulty in recognising clinically that a cow is distinctly suffering from tuberculosis, in which ca.se she may be yielding tuberculous milk. The milk coining from such a cow ought not to form part of human food and. indeed, ought not to he u.-ed as food a'.' all. " Our results clearly point to the necessity of measures more stringent than those at present enforced being taken to prevent the sale or the consumption of such milk." These conclusions, as already stated, are in distinct, conflict with the theoiy piopounded by Dr.. Koch, who in a paper read before the British Congress on Tuberculosis in London on July 23, 1901. reaffirmed his belief that the disease was not transmissible from animale to man. In fact the Royal Commission was to all intents and purposes called into existence »by that pronouncement, for it was appointed on August 51st in the fame year. The Commissioners selected were t-ir Michael Foster, F.R.S. I whose death was anounced a few days ago), Prifessor Sims Woodhead (Cambridge), Professor SidneyMartin, F.R.S., (University College, London), Professor MeFaydan iPrincipal Royal Veterinai'y College), and "Professor Boyce (University College, Liverpool). In the first interim report issued by the Commissioners, and published on June 1. 1904, it. was stated that when the bovine, animal was inoculated by material of human origin the disease was set up, and further that the character of the disease in the bovine animal and the human .species could not be distinguished. The further conclusions now reached with their warning in regard to milk are itlso only an instalment. The Commissioners state that they have limited their inquiry so far to the identity of human aud bovine tuberculosis, but that the lesults so far arrived aii point very strongly to the necessity of extending their studies further. They have already done so to some ex-" tent,' the report, indeed, being sprinkled with references to experiments on a variety of animals.. including : rabbits,'" dogs, cats, gnats, rats, monkeys, and anthropoid apes. 'Special attention liar, been directed to the tuberculosis so.common in pigs, and the Commissioners wil report further on.thi* and on other matters. There is the important question of the use report is a brief critical historical sketch of the whole question of consumption research. Here unstinting tribute is paid ! to Dr Koch for his remarkable discovery of the '" bacillus tuberculosis." At the same time, what are now considered the mistakes of that scientist are duly recorded.' " ' There is the imporan quesion of the use of tuberculin. "Koch," says the report, "was first led to believe that the ac:ion of tuberculin—that is to say. of some or other of the products. contained in the mixture called tuberculin—was antagonistic to the pathogenic activity of the bacillus; .hat, if introduced into a body" suffering from tuberculosis .it would arrest, or even cure, the disease. * In this, he was proved to be mistaken.' ■'"''. In the main body of the report there is the interesting statement, that the reaction set up in bovine and other animals ,by tuberculin obtained from a. human source is the same its that caused by tuberculin prepared from the .bovine source.', It was in 1900 that Dr Koch first brought forward "the theory'That'bovine and .human tuberculosis were quite, distinct.