134 THE MILK QUESTION 



commission who investigated this fever between the years 

 1905 and 1907. 



An interesting outbreak of malta fever occurred upon 

 the steamship Joshua Nicholson. This outbreak is in- 

 structive in showing the relation between goat's milk and 

 malta fever in man. Sixty-one milch goats, all healthy in 

 appearance and good milkers, many of them in fact being 

 prize animals, were taken on board the steamer Joshua 

 Nicholson August 19, 1905, at Malta for passage to the 

 United States via Antwerp. Of twenty-three men on board 

 the steamer who drank the goat's milk on one or more occa- 

 sions, nine suffered from malta fever; no data could be ob- 

 tained of thirteen; one escaped the disease. The Micro- 

 coccus melitensis was isolated in pure culture from the milk 

 of several of the goats. 



Major Horrocks shows that there is a direct relation 

 between the number of goats in Gibraltar and the number 

 of cases of malta fever. With the reduction in the num- 

 ber of goats, there was also a decrease in the number of 

 cases, so that when the number of goats had decreased to 

 about two hundred in 1905, malta fever had practically 

 disappeared. 



The virus of malta fever in goat's milk is readily de- 

 stroyed by heat, so that there is no danger from pasteur- 

 ized or boiled goat's milk. 



There are a number of other diseases and conditions of 

 the cow which render the milk either undesirable or unsafe 

 for human consumption. Among these may be mentioned 

 actinomycosis, bothryomycosis, anthrax, cow-pox, rabies, 

 gastro-enteritis, septic or febrile conditions, etc. In some 

 of these conditions the milk itself does not contain the act- 

 ive principle of the disease; in others it may do so. In 

 some of the conditions mentioned, the milk may be un- 

 natural in color, appearance, or taste, frequently contains 

 pus or blood, and is always highly undesirable. 



