Report on observations made upon the cattle at the experimental station at Outremont, P.Q. recognized to be tuberculous by the tuberculin test / by J. George Adami and C.F. Martin.

  • John George Adami
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on observations made upon the cattle at the experimental station at Outremont, P.Q. recognized to be tuberculous by the tuberculin test / by J. George Adami and C.F. Martin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    from the larger milk tubes and galactiferous ducts, and as already stated, in not a single sections have we found, under the microscope, a sign of tubercle. Under the naked eye, one udder—that of Cow No. 10—certainly appeared suspicious, whitish rather caseous tubercles being scattered in fair abundance through the mammary gland tissue ; upon microscopical examination, however, without exception these nodules or tubercles were found to be, what had been suspected by us, localised areas in which the lobules of the gland tissue had through some obstruction become blocked up with inspissated milk. While we did not find any recognisable tubercles it is worthy of note, that in the majority of these animals the udders were tougher and more fibroid than normal; this was noticeably the case in cows No. 1, 2, 3, and 6. It may be questioned whether this increased development of fibroid tissue throughout the gland had any possible relation- ship to the existence of the disease in other parts of the body. Where present it was fairly well generalised and not localised. We know that some authorities have in the cases of other organs, as for example the liver, suggested that interstitial fibrosis may follow the development of tuberculosis. Certainly in the case of the cosv’s udder, the fibrosis is so generalised, and the absence of anything like existing tubercles in our cases was so marked that, if there be any relationship between the tuberculosis and the interstitial fibroid state, we certainly cannot regard that relationship as brought about by pre-existing tubercle development in these glands. Further it is a well established fact that such interstitial fibroid change may be brought about by other conditions : previous inflammatory disturbances in the organ of various kinds might lead to such development, and as animals become aged there is a liability for the appearance of the same. In the animals studied by us it is true, we have no right to assume the previous existence of these conditions and we can only now sum up by saying that the result of our examinations has led us to believe that the condition of increased development of interstitial fibrous tissue was noticeable in the mammary glands of a fair proportion of the animals studied by us and suffering from tuberculosis. We must leave it an open question as to whether this was a mere coincidence or whether there is a direct connec- tion. Again we must acknowlege at the present moment, if there be such connection, we are not in a position to explain the mode of development of the condition. Thus our work so far tends to lead us to the conclusions :— 1. That tubercule bacilli may appear in the milk of cattle which are free from any evidence of tuberculosis of the mammary gland tissue. 2. That while this is the case, the number of bacilli appearing in the milk of these cattle is inconstant and in general very minute, so that even inoculating large amounts of this milk into the animals of the laboratory, no tuberculosis is necessarily set up in those animals. To these conclusions, we may add : 3. In such animals without any obvious change in the general conditions the number of bacilli passing into the milk may temporarily be increased greatly, so that by the very number present, the milk becomes a most dangerous product. 4. That, while the milk containing these small numbers of bacilli, in general sets up no tuberculosis when inoculated into the most susceptible of animals, in a certain small proportion of cases (to be described later), it does lead to the development of tuberculosis, hence that milk cannot be regarded as a safe product, and consequently— 5. Where, an animal has reacted to tuberculin, the fresh unsterilised milk should never be used as a food stuff. THE EFFECTS OF INOCULATING MILK FROM THESE ANIMALS INTO THE RABBIT AND GUINEA PIG. The results of the work done by us along these lines is shown in the accompanying tables.
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