Page images
PDF
EPUB

ceptacle any sweepings, refuse, dirt, litter, garbage, filth or any other animal or vegetable substance liable to decay and tending to produce or promote an unsanitary condition, nor shall any such consignee or other person through himself, his agent or employe, bring or deliver to any person or railroad or other conveyance any such can or receptacle for the purpose of such return, or any milk, cream or curd can or receptacle for the purpose of delivery or shipment to any person or creamery engaged in so selling or shipping such substances for consumption as human food, which can or receptacle contains such particles of milk, cream or curd, or such other substance as is herein prohibited from being placed therein. The word "curd" as used in this and the preceding section applies to the substance otherwise known as "pot cheese" or "cottage cheese." Whenever any such can or receptacle is used, returned, delivered or shipped in violation of this section, or of section thirty-two-a of this chapter, every such use, return, delivery or shipment of each such can or receptacle shall be deemed a separate violation thereof. Such cans or receptacles so used, returned, delivered or shipped in violation of this section or of section thirty-two-a may be seized by the commissioner of agriculture, his assistants or agents and held as evidence of such violation. For the proper enforcement of this section and section thirty-two-a the commissioner of agriculture may appoint two milk can inspectors to be stationed chiefly in the city of New York who shall receive the usual compensation of other agents of the department of agriculture.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

AN OUTBREAK OF TYPHOID FEVER IN SOMERSET.

During the latter part of September it came to the knowledge of the State Inspector of Health, of District No. 2, that typhoid fever existed in the village of Somerset, and a careful investigation was immediately instituted, which disclosed the fact that 12 persons had been seized between September 8 and 23, and 5 more came down with the disease before the inquiry terminated in October. Of the 17 victims, 7 were children under ten years of age, 2 were housekeepers, 2 were bridge workers, and the others were workmen in various trades.

It was learned that prior to the outbreak, in August and early September, there had occurred among the 30 workmen on the upper and lower bridges of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, between Somerset and Fall River, frequent cases of illness, marked by

headache, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, and that at one time about. half of the men had left the work on account of sickness. Most of the men boarded in houses scattered throughout the village.

It appeared probable that the initial case of infection among the workmen occurred about the middle of August, and that this man, whose occupation was that of day draw-tender, had the walking type of the disease. Previous to the village outbreak, a resident whose occupation was that of night draw-tender was stricken. The day draw-tender lived in the house of a man who produced milk for public sale, and the night draw-tender was himself a milk producer. It is perhaps more than a mere coincidence that 12 of the 17 village patients were consumers of the milk sold from these two places; but proof that the milk had been specifically contaminated is lacking.

Investigation of the water supply at the lower bridge and in various parts of the village showed gross pollution by sewage. During August the bridge workmen used the water of the well at the railroad station, adjoining the premises of the night draw-tender above mentioned. As the water acquired bad odor and taste, its use was discontinued, and then recourse was had to another well between the tracks in front of the station. This well was not protected from surface drainage, and hence it is possible that it may have been polluted by the discharges from the closets of passing trains. The report of the Board on the water supply is given below.

The conditions found on the premises where cases of the disease occurred were in the main exceedingly insanitary, overflowing cesspools and privy vaults in close proximity to wells being the rule, with barnyards and pigpens in unusually filthy state.

Whether the infection was due to polluted water, or to contaminated milk, or to both, could not be determined.

Following is the report, sent to the local board, on the waters taken for examination:

To the Board of Health of the Town of Somerset.

GENTLEMEN: - In response to a communication received Oct. 19, 1907, stating that an epidemic of typhoid fever has occurred in Somerset village, and requesting an examination of the water of certain private wells, the Board has caused an examination to be made of the wells located at the houses of Nicholas Powers, Eber Ray, Sarah A. Hood, Franklin Simmons, George H. Melvin, and of a well located near the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad at the foot of Old Colony Avenue, known as the "railroad" well, and samples of their waters to be analyzed.

The results of the analyses show that the water entering all of these wells has been very badly polluted by sewage, and not thoroughly purified in its passage through the ground before entering the wells. The numbers of

bacteria were high in the waters of most of the wells, and in some of them bacteria characteristic of sewage were found to be present.

In the opinion of the Board, the further use of the waters of any of these wells, with the exception of that near the house of Franklin Simmons, should be prevented. The water of the well of Franklin Simmons, though badly polluted, was evidently, at the time this examination was made, being quite well purified in its passage through the ground before entering the well, and in its present condition may not be unsafe for drinking; but changes in the circumstances affecting its pollution may at any time render this water unsafe, and the Board cannot recommend its continued use.

The results of the examinations show that there is very great need of a general water supply in this village, and the Board would recommend that the town take measures without delay to introduce a public water supply from some suitable source.

AN OUTBREAK OF TYPHOID FEVER IN CAMBRIDGE AND

SOMERVILLE.

During the month of September 33 cases of typhoid fever occurred in Somerville and 28 in Cambridge. Investigation by the State Inspector of Health of District No. 6 revealed the following facts. Of the 61 cases, 43, or 70 per cent., occurred within the period September 19October 1. Of the 33 Somerville victims, 26 were seized in quick succession after September 20, and all of these as well as 1 who came down on September 5, and 6 of the Cambridge victims, obtained milk, directly or indirectly, from the same dealer, who sold part of his night supply to other Cambridge dealers upon whose routes scattered cases of the disease occurred. The first case on this man's route in Cambridge and the first on his route in Somerville appeared at about the same time.

Investigation of the dairies from which the milk supply was derived revealed the fact that to one or more of them were sent cans from a place where milk was bottled and cans were washed by a man who was nursing a person who had been stricken with typhoid fever early in September. He was uncleanly in his habits and very careless in his work, some of the cans which he "washed" being strong-smelling and partially lined with sour scum. It is most likely that infective material from the person whom he nursed was conveyed by his hands directly into the cans and into the milk. This outbreak emphasizes the necessity of strict cleanliness on the part of all who handle milk, and of prohibiting the handling of milk by anybody coming in contact with persons suffering with any of the communicable diseases.

A FATAL FAMILY OUTBREAK OF TRICHINOSIS.

About March 1, 1907, Channing Angell and his wife, of Chesterfield, living in an isolated house on the road to the adjoining town of Huntington, were taken suddenly ill. Later, four of their five children were seized with the same symptoms, the only one to escape being a nursing infant. After being treated for about five weeks for what was supposed to be typhoid fever, Mrs. Angell died; whereupon the local board of health appealed to the State Board for the services of an expert to determine the source of the infection. Examination of the other members of the family led to the diagnosis of trichinosis, which finding was abundantly confirmed later. Pieces of salted pork were taken from the food supply on hand and subjected to microscopical examination, which revealed the worms in large numbers.

A few days later Mr. Angell succumbed; whereupon post-mortem examinations were made in both cases, and bits of muscular tissue from each body were forwarded to the Board for microscopic study. Four days later one of the children, a girl of three years, died, and her body was examined by order of the district attorney. Each bit of muscular tissue examined in each case contained trichinæ in large numbers. These were most numerous in certain of the preparations made from the tissues of Mr. Angell; and in the tissues of Mrs. Angell and the child many of the organisms were motile.

On May 9 another of the children died, and at the same time it was learned that a neighbor, who had come in to help out when the family was prostrated, was under treatment, but improving rapidly. No postmortem examination of the body of the fourth victim was made, there being no doubt as to the cause of death.

Inquiry into the circumstances preceding the outbreak revealed the fact that Mr. Angell bought half of a hog which had been killed and dressed in an unlicensed slaughterhouse, and that the carcass was disposed of without any inspection whatever.

The pieces of meat obtained at the house for examination were uncooked, and had recently been salted. It was stated that they were a part of the animal which the family had been eating, and that no other pork had been used.

A communication from the office of the district attorney of the Northwestern District, dated Oct. 9, 1907, states that the person who conducted the slaughterhouse without a license had been convicted and

sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars, and that a complaint against the one who sold the meat without the inspection required by law was still pending.

TRICHINOSIS: ITS CAUSE, FREQUENCY, SYMPTOMS, TREATMENT AND PREVENTION.

In view of the occurrence of the outbreak described above and of the general disregard, in rural communities, of the laws relative to the operation of slaughterhouses and to the inspection of carcasses before sale, the following extracts from Circular No. 108, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, issued in April last, are worthy of attention. The circular was prepared by B. H. Ransom, Chief of the Division of Zoology.

Trichinosis is a disease occurring in man and other animals as a result of eating flesh containing the living larvæ of a parasite, Trichinella spiralis, commonly known as trichinæ.

These larvæ have been found encysted in the muscles of many different kinds of mammals, most frequently those of omnivorous or carnivorous habits. The occurrence of trichinæ in herbivorous mammals, or in those which do not normally eat meat, is very rare, and results only when, abandoning their usual food habits, or accidentally, these animals eat meat which happens to be infested with the parasite, or when as a matter of experiment they are purposely fed such meat. From the standpoint of public health, the only animals which are of importance in this country as sources of infection and propagators of the disease are hogs and rats. Man becomes infected through eating trichinous pork, hogs become trichinous by eating the trichinous flesh of other hogs or of rats, and rats acquire the parasite by eating the flesh of trichinous hogs or by eating other rats which happen to be infested. The country slaughterhouses where hogs are commonly kept and fed on the offal of slaughtered animals and where rats usually abound are one of the most important factors, if not the most important, in the propagation of infection.

LIFE HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF TRICHINELLA SPIRALIS.

Three stages may be distinguished in the life history of the parasite, the adult, the embryo, and the encysted larva.

In the adult stage the parasites are small, slender worms, gradually increasing in thickness toward the posterior end, and scarcely visible to the naked eye. This stage of the parasite lives in the intestine, and develops from larvæ swallowed in infested meat. The cysts surrounding the larvæ are destroyed by the action of the gastric juices, and the larvæ, passing

« PreviousContinue »