In the first instance tuberculous sputum was introduced into river
water in its natural condition, and as this water was abstracted from
the River Spree, in Berlin, it was exposed at any rate to a certain
degree of surface contamination. In this water, kept in ordinary
daylight, the tubercle bacilli remained alive and in a virulent
condition for over five months; in ordinary sewage for six and a half
months. Some of the sewage-infected samples were left in the open air
and exposed to ordinary meteorological conditions, but even the ordeal
of getting frozen up in their surroundings did not in the slightest
shorten the lease of virulence possessed by the tubercle bacilli. Some
of this tubercle-infected sewage was poured over garden soil in which
radishes were growing, and after the bacilli had spent eighty-eight
days in these surroundings, during which time they had experienced
frost, snow, rain, and sunshine, they still retained their virulence.
Of special interest are the investigations Dr. Musehold made to
ascertain if tubercle bacilli could be detected on the fields attached
to a hospital for consumption and irrigated with the sewage from the
same. Not only were tubercle bacilli found, but they were also, as was
to be expected from the laboratory experiments cited above, discovered
in a highly virulent condition.
That disease germs may be distributed with the vegetables grown on
municipal sewage farms is not a mere whim or fancy of the faddist, but
is a very real danger, and must be regarded as a menace to the health
of all who consume such articles as lettuces, radishes, celery, and
other vegetables which are not first cooked before being placed on the
table.
This forcibly suggests the desirability of all expectorations from
consumptive patients being thoroughly disinfected, or, in other words,
deprived of their virulence before being admitted to sewage.
The importance of such precautions being taken is borne out by the
examinations of the clear effluent derived from the treatment of the
sewage of a consumptive hospital which revealed the presence of
virulent tubercle bacilli, whilst they were also discovered in the
bottom of a ditch conducting the effluent away.
Such facts as these deserve the earnest attention of all public
authorities, and it is to be hoped that the overwhelming evidence
which is now available regarding the distribution and Spartan
character of the tubercle bacillus will lead to serious efforts being
made to bestow upon it that measure of consideration which in the case
of recognised zymotic diseases leads to the enactment of rules and
regulations for the restriction at least of the fateful activities of
these malignant foes of mankind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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