Mastitis. 77 



ing the ingestion of such milk " Malta Fever" develops in man. It 

 lias a protracted course with recurrences, and is accompanied by 

 anemia, headaches, rheumatic pains, constipation and swelling of 

 the joints. Malta fever terminates fatally in about 3% of the 

 cases. The goats show on postmortem, swelling of the spleen 

 and lymph glands, frequently also inflammations of the kidneys 

 and lobular pneumonia. The virus is relatively resistant against 

 souring of the milk, but at 70 deg. C. it dies in 10 minutes. 



According to Zammit about 10% of all the goats on the Island 

 of Malta eliminate the virus, while 50% of the animals show by 

 the agglutination test that they are or have been under the influ- 

 ence of the Micrococcus melitensis. 



We are. in possession of better information concerning the 

 changes which milk undergoes in inflammations of the udder than 

 we have regarding the effect on the milk secretion as a result of 

 general diseases, or regarding the importance of milk from affected 

 animals from a hygienic standpoint. 



Changes in Appearance, Consistence, Contents, Etc., During an 



Attack of Mastitis. 



Relatively very little is known as to the influence of the dis- 

 eases of the udder on the chemical and physical character of the 

 milk, although it is well known that with the changes in function 

 and condition of the organ the product is also changed, as com- 

 pared with the product of the normal gland. Even in the same 

 disease the product varies in accordance with the intensity, dura- 

 tion and the extension of the disease, the same as it naturally 

 varies in accordance with the nature of the injury to which the 

 parenchyma is subjected. As a result of these conditions the re- 

 sults of the data of different authors vary considerably. 



It may be said in general that in affections of the udder the 

 proportion of the proteids, sugar, salt, fat, and enzymes in the 

 milk becomes altered and that the relation of the individual pro- 

 teids, the salts and the enzymes, also undergoes fluctuations. In 

 acute and greatly extended chronic inflammations, both fluid and 

 cellular constituents of the blood may pass into the milk, cells of 

 the parenchyma are thrown off, coagulation sets in, and briefly, 

 the milk changes more or less rapidly in appearance, taste and 

 contents, so that it deviates considerably from the milk of healthy 

 cows. 



At times none of these characteristics appears, especially in 

 the early stages of chronic inflammations of the udder, or after 

 the subsidence of the acute symptoms, and it is then only possible 

 with the aid of certain methods of examination to differentiate 

 such affected milk from normal. 



Therefore of special importance to milk hygiene are the 

 chronic inflammations, and inflammatory stages in which the 



