202 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



ful if the scales which come off the body during the peeHng 

 process are at all infective. At any rate, the germs of scarlet 

 fever whatever their nature can be transmitted by milk and 

 epidemics from this cause may be extensive and fatal. Very 

 mild cases of scarlet fever, especially in adults, are apt to go 

 undetected and after two or three days' transitory illness the 

 patient will often feel well enough to resume work while 

 really in a most infective stage of the disease. This is another 

 reason why scarlet fever milk-borne epidemics are probably 

 more frequent and of greater magnitude than those of diph- 

 theria, which is more truly a children's disease, although adults 

 may have them both. 



In the spring of 1910 in Boston, 842 cases of scarlet tever 

 were reported in a short time, several cases being fatal. In- 

 vestigation proved that all the cases came down between April 

 27 and May 5 — nine days in all. Further investigation 

 proved that the great majority of cases reported in this period 

 were on routes of one milk dealer who had several routes. Fol- 

 lowing pasteurization of his milk the epidemic suddenly ceased. 

 Although the exact source could never be determined, it is 

 clear that the original cause of all these cases must have been an 

 unrecognized case or cases on one or more of the farms pro- 

 ducing milk for this dairy. In many other instances smaller 

 epidemics have been traced back to the identical individual 

 responsible — sometimes proving to be a person employed on 

 the farm, sometimes a person employed at the dairy or bottling 

 plant. 



(d) Septic Sore Throat. Septic Sore Throat is a disease 

 whose epidemic nature has just begun to be well appreciated 

 in the United States although well known in England for many 

 years. Whether we have only recently had the disease im- 

 ported, or whether we have failed to distinguish and to appre- 

 ciate its essentially milk-borne nature as contrasted with other 

 milder epidemics of tonsilitis, is an unsettled question. It is 

 possible that like tuberculosis septic infection of the cow's 

 udders may transmit the disease, although it is believed that 

 the so-called streptococcic germs that produce it usually get 

 into the milk from human sources. At any rate, it has certain 

 very striking features. These are : 



