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POPULATION
HEALTH
ARE YOU FEELING WELL?
SAY THANK YOU...
By Fred H. Olin, DVM, MD
…to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to Louis Pasteur, to result in an entire herd being killed. Of course, our friend Pasteur
physicians Edward Jenner, James Lind, John Snow and Walter Reed, also comes into this discussion: “Pasteurization” involves heating
the veterinary profession, as well as to myriads of biologists, bacte- milk to a temperature high enough to kill >99 percent of the viable
riologists, sanitarians, engineers, chemists, politicians, and scientists microorganisms, but not high enough to cause precipitation of the
in a multitude of disciplines. They are directly and indirectly respon- milk proteins.
sible for you and your family’s health, and to the fact that the envi-
ronment in which you live isn’t a minute-to-minute risk to your The USDA’s meat inspection program and regulations have al-
survival. Let’s start with the USDA: most eliminated Trichinosis as a significant risk. In 1996 (the most
recent statistics I could find), they tested over 220,000 Midwestern
I’m willing to bet that even the infectious disease specialists among market hogs and found a zero incidence of Trichinella spiralis infes-
us haven’t seen a case of Mycobacterium bovis infection in a human tation. Although occasional human cases turn up (72 during the
being. At the current time, there are usually fewer than 230 cases re- five-year period 1997-2001) many were caused by hunters eating
ported in the U.S. each year, in contrast to about 9,500 cases of M. wild game, specifically bear meat. A few were from commercial pork
tuberculosis infection. Back in the late 19th century, however, M. products and some others were from locally-sourced (uninspected)
bovis was prevalent, particularly in urban populations. While direct pork. Research had revealed that feeding hogs raw garbage contain-
contact or respiratory transmission is possible, the major cause was ing infested meat waste was the main way that the animals obtained
found to be milk from animals (both cows and goats) infected with the parasite. Legislation and regulations were put in place that out-
the organism. In 1917, after scientific breakthroughs allowed for the lawed that practice. Nowadays, even though it has been hard to con-
early detection of bovine tuberculosis, the USDA began a campaign vince consumers, it is said to be acceptable to eat pork that is only
to eradicate the disease. Agents and veterinarians inspected and tu- cooked to medium instead of well done. Other veterinary contribu-
berculin-tested herds at nearly every cattle farm in the country. They tions of note are related to rabies, Q-fever, Brucellosis and several of
condemned roughly 4 million reactors to slaughter without full com- the encephalitides caused by arboviruses, such as the St. Louis and
pensation. This did not endear them to farmers and ranchers. The West Nile varieties.
testing program continues today, but usually only for herds impli-
cated when an infected carcass is found during routine veterinary We all know who Jenner was. You know, the 18th century physi-
inspection at a slaughterhouse. The animal’s origin is traced, and can cian who developed the smallpox inoculation. Lind was a Scottish
physician who carried out the first-ever clinical trial. He proved that
14 San Antonio Medicine • February 2017
