Show Do ANIMALS Spread DIPHTHERIA HE day has passed when the diphtheria patient patient patient pa pa- THE T tient was looked on as the only source of contagion of diphtheria The menace of the human carrier of the infective microorganism microorganism microorganism micro micro- organism is becoming so well understood that provision against it is taken in the procedures of preventive medicine and in measures to maintain maintain main main- tain public health Furthermore there are many instances in which domestic animals especially cats and dogs have been considered to have spread diphtheria It is obviously important to know whether with these or not we are continually surrounded unsuspected sources of danger says a writer in inthe inthe inthe the Journal of the American Medical Association Association Association tion for our animal enemies must not be treated in the same category with mans man's animal friends The difficulty in ih the way of accepting the charge against the dog and the cat or even the h horse which has also been incriminated lies in the lack of dependable information Most of the Instances in instances in In- stances of natural diphtheria in animals have lacked demonstration of the presence of the true etiologic agent of the human disease Recently however Maj J. J S. S Simmons has isolated diphtheria bacilli virulent for pigs guinea-pigs from two cats which were pets of a person who contracted a fatal diphtheritic Stray rI r- r I animals of the same species caught in the tho environment environment environment en en- gave negative cultures These controlled observations observations observations including the suspected human victim lend lenda a n greater probability to the long heralded impression impression im im- im that cats may contract diphtheria from human subjects and that in turn these animals may communicate the disease to man |