MILK SURVEY OF THE CITY OF ROCHESTER 201 



(5) SEPTIC SORE THROAT. 



Considerable interest has been aroused during the past four or five years 

 as the result of a high mortality due to septic sore throat. Many of these out- 

 breaks have been traced directly to the milk supply, partially through contamina- 

 tion by the handlers of the milk, who were affected or were carriers, and 

 partially through an organism which is found in the diseased udder of the cow. 

 Six hundred cases of sore throat in Stockholm in 1908 were traced to an abscess 

 in the udder of a cow, which contained the same organism that was found to be 

 responsible for the sore throat. This animal was one of a herd that furnished 

 milk to those that became infected. This was one of the first observations made 

 in this connection, and different outbreaks have been traced to this source since. 



A very exhaustive study was given to the outbreak in Boston in May, 1911, 

 where 1,043 cases were traced to one raw milk supply. In Chicago, 111., an out- 

 break of 10,000 cases was traced to one raw milk supply; in Baltimore, 602 

 cases; and in Cortland-Homer, N. Y., 669 cases. This disease seems to attack 

 adults especially. , 



Pasteurization would have made these outbreaks practically impossible. 



It was on these findings, together with the information already in the 

 possession of the Board of Health of New York, that they decided to pass an 

 ordinance in 1912, requiring all milk not coming from cattle free from tuber- 

 culosis, as determined by the tuberculin test, and not produced under conditions 

 necessary for the production of a certified milk, to be scientifically pasteurized. 

 This ordinance was not rigidly enforced until 1914. That it has been for the 

 past year rigidly enforced is evident from the following extract taken from the 

 Weekly Bulletin of the Department of Health of New York City, June 6, 1914 : 

 'The situation regarding compulsory pasteurization of all except the 



highest grade of milk sold in this city is extremely satisfactory, at the 



present time, about 99% of the city's supply being efficiently pasteurised. 



This represents an enormous improvement over conditions a year ago, and 



should make milk-borne disease a rarity in this city.' " 



The author, Dr. Charles J. Hastings, Health Officer of Toronto, 

 then apologizes for presenting further arguments in favor of pasteuriza- 

 tion by saying : 



"In all advances of science there are always a few who cannot keep 

 pace with advancement, and they expect others to wait for them. It is 

 therefore necessary to repeat and repeat over and over again. 



I am reminded here of Lord Cromer's address at the Annual Confer- 

 ence of the British Research Defence Society in London in July, 1910, 

 when the question of inoculation of animals was under discussion, in which 

 he said: 



"It seems unfortunate that we should have to waste time on prob- 

 lems that are so self-evident, in order to meet the objections of those 

 who value the life of a guinea pig higher than that of a baby." 

 He consoled himself by quoting the statement made by Mr. Cobden in 

 the British House of Commons when endeavoring to bring about the repeal 

 of the Corn Laws, which was as follows : 



'I have come to the conclusion that the only way to get an idea 

 into the heads of the British public is to repeat the same thing over 

 and over again in slightly different language.' 



