UNDULANT FEVER.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17839, 11 October 1929, Page 11

UNDULANT FEVER.

MEDICAL INQUIRIES.

UNPASTEURISED MILK. Medical attention in New Zealand has recently been focused on a disease called undulant fever by a questionnaire from the Health Division of the League of Nations inquiring into the incidence of the malady in this country. It had been known for some time that in parts of New Zealand contagious abortion in cattle existed. It was also known that there is a very close relationship between the infecting organism of contagious abortion and the organism which oauses undulant or Malta fever. Gases of undulant fever v have been observed in which the infecting organism was not the bacillus of Malta fever, but the bacillus of bovine abortion. The difficulty in recognising the disease is occasioned by the fact that it may readily be confused with typhoid fever, tuberculosis, rheumatism, malaria, influenza and other infective processes. It was not until deliberate investigation of some obscure illnesses was undertaken that it was shown that the bacillus of bovine abortion was the cause of the illness. There have been reported In the New Zealand Medical Journal several cases of human infections by the bacillus of contagious abortion. These cases have all occurred in the Auckland district, but it is pointed out in the Medical Journal that the rural population of New Zealand, and of the Auckland provincial district in particular, is mainly dependent on dairy farming for its livelihood, and that contagious abortion is a common and very serious disease in the farm herds. The practice of drinking fresh milk is widespread in this country, so that the chances of infection are great. In order to discover if cases were occurring in the country laboratory tests have been made with blood from as many patients as possible suffering from obscure and unexplained fever, in this manner the above-mentioned cases were discovered.

Related to Bovine Abortion. In America and England, and especially in the Scandinavian countries, it lias been shown that there is a similar relationship between the incidence of bovine abortion and cases of undulant fever in the human being. It is noteworthy, that in districts in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where bovine abortion is rife, human infections of this organism have been found.

Considerable difficulty is experienced in estimating the exact incidence of tlic disease, because the fever produced is sometimes of mild degree, although prolonged, and unless the possibility of infection by the organism of contagious abortion is suspected, and appropriate laboratory investigation is undertaken, ithe exact diagnosis will be missed. Unpasteurlsod Milk. In a recent report by Dr. H. E. I-lasseltine, United States Public Health Service who has made a most careful study of undulant fever (so far as the medical reports and statistics permit) lie states — “There are many cases occurring In urban communities,, arid in persons following occupations that do not bring them in contact with animals, that seem to offer no possible explanation other than milk-borne infection. . In tlic group whose occupation does not furnish a clue to the probable method of acquiring the infection it is found that practically all have used unpasteurised milk within a sufficiently recent period to account for the disease. In the large cities where a high percentage of the milk supplv Is pasteurised the disease is comparatively rarely reported. . . • The ideal method of prevention of the disease is the elimination of the infection from livestock, a goal which veterinarians and the Dcpartrnent of Agriculture hope can be reached by separation of infected from noninfcctcd herds. A Wonderful Discovery.

A recent dumber or the Lancet contains an article giving particulars of a case of brucella abortus infection in man. The evidence goes to show that the infection was caused by the drinking of unpastourised or unboiled milk. The medical men who investigated the case report that “the patient was accustomed to drink at least half a pint, and frequently a pint, of milk every evening before supper. This was fresh, raw, often warm milk, from the afternoon milking of the institutional herd of seven cows. In February, 1928, one of these cows had aborted without apparent cause, and though continuing for a period to give milk in moderate Quantities it had ceased to do so about the end of September. Bacteriological tests showed that the cow was infected with brucella abortus, and the presumption was that the animal’s milk was the probable cause from which the patient had been infected. , . . „ “No one connected contagious abortion in cows with undulant fever in human beings until Miss Alice C. Evans, of the Research Laboratories of the Dairy Division of the Federal Department of Agriculture, and later oi the Hygienic Laboratory of the United States Public Health Service, and Johns Hopkins University Hospital, made the announcement that the bacilli in both cases were the same. Numerous careful experiments proved the truth of her statement. The story of her discovery ranks with other wonderful discoveries of bacteriological science. It is sad to relate that while working with the bacilli Miss Evens contracted undulant fever, and is now a patient in Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Society of American Bacteriologists last year elected Miss Evens to be their president, and she is now striving to solve the mystery of encephalitis, the dread sleeping sickness."