Grace Frankland - Bacteria in Daily Life

Dr. Mewius, of Heligoland, describes an epidemic of typhoid fever in the island, concerning which he made a most searching and elaborate inquiry. It appears that a case of typhoid occurred and was concealed from the medical authorities, so that no steps for disinfection could be taken in the first instance; and, following the primitive custom which prevails on the island, the dejecta was thrown over and upon the cliffs, this being the usual method of disposing of sewage. Ample opportunity was thus given for its desiccation and subsequent distribution as dust. That this typhoidal matter did subsequently become pulverised and spread the infection Dr. Mewius has no doubt, the germs having been conveyed to the open rain-water cisterns which constitute the water-supply of the majority of the inhabitants. His theory is again supported by the coincidence between the prevailing direction of the wind and the quarter where the outbreak occurred.

That diphtheria germs can remain for a long time in a living and, what is more, virulent condition in dust has been clearly demonstrated by Germano, amongst other investigators, this organism being specially endowed with the capacity for resisting the, to other microbes, lethal effect of getting dried up.

Bacteria, however, survive this desiccation process much better when they are herded together in large numbers than when they have to face such untoward conditions as isolated individuals. This has been well illustrated in the case of diphtheria bacilli, and the difference in their powers of endurance under these respective conditions is very striking. Thus when a few only were exposed to a very dry atmosphere on silken threads they disappeared after eight days; but when somewhat larger numbers were taken they contrived to exist for eighteen days, whilst when great multitudes of them were herded together even one hundred and forty days' starvation in these desert-like surroundings could not entirely stamp out their vitality.

This dangerous property possessed by the germs of diphtheria should, if possible, increase the vigilance with which the outbreaks of this disease are watched and dealt with. Abel cites an instance in which a wooden toy in the sickroom of a child suffering from diphtheria was found six months later to have virulent diphtheria bacilli upon it.

This reminds me of a case in which tetanus or lock-jaw ensued from the use of some old cobwebs in stopping the bleeding of a cut. The wound was a perfectly clean one, and nothing need have resulted from this obedience to a superstitious prejudice had not the cobwebs unfortunately arrested some tetanus germs, and these getting access to the wound set up the typical symptoms of lock-jaw. That this implication of the cobweb was no idle accusation was subsequently proved by portions of the same web, on being inoculated into animals, inducing in the latter well-defined symptoms of tetanus.

That cobwebs readily catch dust is familiar to everyone who has the mortification of seeing them adorn ceilings and corners; that they also arrest bacteria follows as a natural consequence of the presence of dust, and hence these delicate filaments may become veritable bacterial storehouses, more especially as it is usually in the dark and remote corners that they best succeed in eluding the vigilance of the domestic eye, and are thus also out of reach of the lethal action of sunbeams; and hence their unwelcome lodgers may manage to maintain a very comfortable existence over long periods of time.

That the bacillus of consumption should have been very frequently found in dust by different investigators is hardly surprising when it is realised that the sputum of phthisical persons may contain the tubercle germ in large numbers, and that until recently no efforts have been made in this country to suppress that highly objectionable and most reprehensible practice of indiscriminate expectoration. Considering that the certified deaths from phthisis in 1901, in England and Wales only, reached the enormous total of 42,408, and bearing in mind the hardy character of the bacillus tuberculosis when present in sputum, it having been found alive in the latter even when kept in a dry condition after ten months, it is not too much to demand that vigorous measures should be taken by the legislature to cope with what is now regarded as one of the most fruitful means of spreading consumption. We know that in some of the states of America public opinion has permitted the enactment of laws penalising this practice. Local rules to the same effect exist in our Australian colonies. On the Continent the trend of public opinion is evident by the prohibition found in the railway carriages and the notices to that effect conspicuously posted in public places. In this country public opinion moves so slowly that we are not yet ripe for any such strong step, and so far one of the few attempts at official activity in this respect is to be found in a circular issued by the Local Government Board of Ireland to the various local authorities stating that "tuberculous sputum is the main agent for the conveyance of the virus of tuberculosis from man to man, and that indiscriminate spitting should therefore be suppressed." The public exhibition of notices calling attention to the danger accruing from expectoration in public resorts is, as already pointed out, one means of educating the people, and it has been stated that such a notice is posted in every beerhouse in Manchester. The question has also been raised of the inspection of beerhouses and the suggestion made that licences should be withdrawn in the case of those holders who did not wash the floors of their public rooms and keep them in a sanitary state. At the present time, in this country, it is perhaps more to the private conscience of the individual and the pressure of public opinion than to penal enactments that we must look for effective reform in this direction, for the objection of the English to official sanitary control is deeply rooted. It is to be hoped, however, that with the spread and popularisation of the knowledge acquired through the arduous labours of so many scientific authorities, it may come to be regarded as a matter for both public and private morality that every step should be taken which lies in the power of each member of society to minimise the opportunities for the spread of a disease which by its very familiarity we have until the last few years accepted as incurable and the ravages of which as inevitable. 1 1 Since the above was written, the first international conference of the Central Committee for the Prevention of Consumption has been held in Berlin. The official report of the English National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis was presented to the Congress, and the encouraging announcement was made that the Corporations of Glasgow, Manchester, and Liverpool had made expectoration in tramcars a punishable offence; and that the Glamorganshire County Council had passed a bye-law providing as penalty for expectoration in public buildings a fine of £5, which enactment had been sanctioned by the Secretary for the Home Department.

Now that we are considering the status of street dust in bacterial circles, it will not perhaps be out of place to inquire into the character of another waste product of streets, i. e. the discarded ends of cigars and cigarettes. That what is carelessly tossed away on the one hand may be as carefully collected on the other is well known, as is also the fact that such material may subsequently be raised once more to the dignity of a marketable commodity. Under these circumstances, it is of hygienic interest and importance to ascertain whether disease germs, should they have obtained access to this tobacco refuse, are in a virulent or quiescent condition.

Some experiments to decide this question in connection with the tubercle bacillus have been recently carried out in Padua by Dr. Peserico, who, whilst extending our knowledge on the subject of bacteria and tobacco, has also confirmed the earlier results obtained by Kerez.