INFLUENCE OF DISEASE 'tlEON MIL& '*/ 101 



bacilli and their spores, and the spores may also be 

 present in the dust of the stable and in the dust of straw 

 and hay from infected fields. The organisms may gain 

 access not only to the milk of the affected cow, but also 

 to the milk of other cows in the stable. Anthrax bacilli 

 and spores entering milk in this way may multiply 

 rapidly, as milk is an excellent culture medium for this 

 organism. While the bacilli are digested by the gastric 

 juice, the spores are not affected and in disturbances of 

 digestion the bacilli may also escape destruction. . Ernst 

 mentions a typhoid fever patient who developed intestinal 

 anthrax after drinking milk from a cow with a malignant 

 pustule on the udder. 



All milk from a herd in which anthrax is present 

 must therefore be regarded as dangerous to man until 

 proper precautions are taken to prevent the secondary 

 infection of the milk from the cows which are not diseased. 

 Diseased and dead animals should be at once removed 

 from the stable, which should be thoroughly cleaned and 

 disinfected. McFadyean recommends that the tempera- 

 ture of every exposed cow be taken each day before milk- 

 ing for seven to ten days, and that all those showing a rise 

 of temperature be treated as suspicious cases and taken 

 out of the stable, the milk not being used. 



RABIES 



Cattle are usually infected with rabies by being 

 bitten by a rabid dog. Frequently several animals in a 

 herd are infected at the same time. While the virus of 

 rabies is to be found in its purest and most concentrated 

 form in the central nervous system, it is also present in 

 the milk of affected animals as well as in the secretions 



