The Influence of heredity and contagion on the propagation of tuberculosis : and the prevention of injurious effects from consumption of the flesh and milk of tuberculous animals / by A. Lydtin, G. Fleming, and Van Hertsen.

Lydtin, A.

Date:: 1883

Credit: The Influence of heredity and contagion on the propagation of tuberculosis : and the prevention of injurious effects from consumption of the flesh and milk of tuberculous animals / by A. Lydtin, G. Fleming, and Van Hertsen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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$losis is a dangerous disease for animals, which may contract it not only by the respiratory passages, but also by digestive ingestion, as well as by inocu- lation in any part of the body. He referred to the Toussaint experiments, the results of which were startling. The virulent element did not exist in the tuberculous lesions only, but was present in all the tissues. The juice of the flesh of a tuberculous animal, even after being heated to 50° or 60° the ordinary temperature of roast beef—was virulent to the ox, pig, cat, rabbit, etc., when given in a virulent or small dose ; large doses were not necessary. In putting the question to its ultimate consequences, it was not necessary to establish degrees in Tuberculosis, as when it exists it renders the consump- tion of the flesh dangerous. He was convinced that Tuberculosis, no matter the degree to which it had attained objectively, should cause the rejection of the flesh ; at the most it should only be utilised when well cooked. Human Tubo'culosis is certainly contagious ; this is a fact known to everybody. Transmission takes place principally from husband to wife, and perhaps kissing is one of the conditions of contagion, through the medium of infected saliva. Tuberculosis is too widespread at present; it affects one-fifth of the population. He considered that it was in the butcher’s department that one of the principal causes of the large number of cases of this disease was to be sought; it is probable that infection occurred through the digestive organs, as in the laboratory experiments. In conclusion, he proposed the following amendment:— “Tuberculosis being recognised, experimentally, as a malady transmis- sible through the digestive organs and by inoculation, the Congress declares that there is every reason to reject for human consumption the flesh of tuber- culous animals, no matter to what extent these may be affected, nor what the apparent quality of the meat may be.” He was of opinion that the owners should be compensated, and thought butchers should establish mutual assurance societies. V.\N Hertsen : This speaker explained what had been done in Belgium with regard to this disease, and especially the procedure he had adopted at the Brussels abattoir, when he had to deal with tuberculous cattle. These measures had been in operation for a very long time. In 1869 he had made them known in a work presented to the Veterinary Society of the Eure and Seine, and which had received the prize of that society. At that period he had arrived at almost the same conclusions as those in the report. At Brus- sels all emaciated cattle are confiscated, as well as the carcase of every animal showing numerous generalised tubercles undergoing softening, caseation, or suppuration—which lead to the supposition that the whole of the organism is infected. When the les'ons are serious and multiple, no matter what the quality of the meat may be, the carcase is always seized ; but when the tubercles are localised and in the crude state, and the flesh is satisfactory from a nutritive point of view, it is allowed to be consumed. This practice had been established since 1869. With regard to the danger arising from the consumption of unboiled milk, he referred to a work$