TUBERCULOSIS 321 



Milk-borne diseases may be divided into two groups, 

 namely : 



(1) Those which attack both the cow and man, such as 

 tuberculosis, foot and mouth disease, and possibly other 

 illnesses ; and 



(2) Those which are rarely or never met with among 

 dairy stock, but whose germs find their way into the 

 milk after it is drawn : to this class belong typhoid fever, 

 diphtheria, scarlet fever, and certain obscure throat 

 troubles, diarrhoea, and intestinal ailments. 



2. Tuberculosis. One of the great scourges of the 

 human race is tuberculosis. The number of deaths per 

 annum in the British Islands due to various forms of the 

 disease is over 60,000, and probably more than ten times 

 this number suffer from it. 



The disease is also found extensively distributed 

 among domestic animals, being specially prevalent in 

 cattle and pigs ; less of the trouble is met with in horses, 

 sheep, and goats. Cats and dogs are subject to it, and 

 a form of the disease is common among poultry. 



There are from 2j to 3 millions of cows and heifers 

 in Great Britain ; about 25 to 30 per cent (600,000 to 

 800,000) are tuberculous ; according to M'Fadyean 

 about 2 per cent, of them, representing a total of over 

 50,000 cows, have the disease in the udder, and yield 

 milk containing the virulent germs of the disease. 



In Islington (London) Dr Harris found, in 1899, over 

 14 per cent of the samples of milk examined contained 

 the tubercle bacillus ; from 28 to 38 per cent, of the 

 milk examined in Berlin in 1897 by two different 

 observers was found to be infected, and in Paris 33 per 

 cent, of the samples gave similar results. The un- 

 doubted presence of these bacilli in the milk supplied to 

 x 



