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Bovine
Tuberculosis
Q. Is bovine
tuberculosis dangerous for human beings?
A. It was discovered some years ago that tuberculosis
germs from which cows suffer differ slightly from
the human variety.
It was at first supposed that on this
account human beings would not be likely to contract disease from cattle,
but it is now known that this
is an error.
Hess, a New York investigator, found among eighteen children fed on cow's milk five suffering from tuberculosis. Behring has demonstrated that among young children in cities twenty-four out of twenty-five are infected from tuberculosis in some form. Other observers have found as high as twenty-five per cent
of cases of tuberculosis in children due to bovine infection. It is estimated by Rosenberg that not less than 500
children die every year from bovine tuberculosis in New York City a1one.
Investigations made in Washington, Rochester and New Haven have shown the presence of tuberculosis germs in milk to the
extent of twenty per cent of all specimens obtained. The
Health Department of Boston found that
twenty to twenty-five per cent of the animals furnishing milk to the city were infected with
the germs of tuberculosis.
Of five thousand cows that
are brought to the city abattoirs for
slaughter every year, fully one thousand were found
to be so badly diseased as to be unfit for
food; yet these same cows a short time before they were turned over to the butcher
were supplying milk to the city of Boston and surrounding towns.
It has been demonstrated that tubercle germs are not only found in milk but survive in
butter and cheese.