TYPHOID FEVER MILK-BORNE OUTBREAKS 



319 



Med. Jour., 1876 ; Med. Times and 

 Gazette, 1876. 



Eagley, 1876 [^January and February). 

 Total number of cases . -195 



Deaths 13 



Number of families supplied by 



milkman 63 



Number of such families invaded 55 

 Percentage 87 



Circumstances implicating the milk 

 supply. — No community of drainage 

 or water supply, but a very large pro- 

 portion of the families invaded were 

 customers of a particular dairy. Of 

 59 families thus supplied 96 per cent, 

 were attacked with typhoid ; of 261 not 

 supplied, 5 per cent, were attacked. 

 It appears not unlikely that the channel 

 of pollution of the milk was water from 

 a brook which had been befouled with 

 human excrement. 



Probable exciting cause. — Polluted 

 water used for dairying purposes. 



Reporter and reference. — W. H. 

 Power, F. R. S. Brit. Med. Jour., 1 876, 

 vol. i., pp. 209, 233, 273, etc. 



Barrowford, Lancashire, 1876-7 



{^December to January). 



Total number of cases . . 57 



Deaths 7 



Number of cases amongst 



drinkers of suspected milk . 57 

 Percentage on total cases . .100 

 Number of families supplied by 



milkman 50 



Number of such families invaded 37 



Percentage 74 



Number of polluted milk sources i 



Nimiber of milkmen . . . i 



Circumstances implicating the milk 

 supply. — This was a very clear case. 

 The farmer had had typhoid fever in 

 his house for two or three weeks before 

 the outbreak, and no precautions had 

 been taken to prevent the spread of 

 the disease. The milk was left for 

 some time in the farm-house before 

 being sold. The milk-tins were wiped 



with the same "dish cloth" as that 

 used among the fever patients. The 

 farmer himself nursed his children, 

 and then went immediately without 

 disinfection amongst his cattle and 

 milked them in the same clothes he 

 had worn whilst nursing his children. 

 The cases occurred within a very short 

 space of time, and every one of them 

 without exception drank the milk from 

 this farm. Twenty-five of the patients 

 were under 10 years of age. There 

 was no other typhoid in the district. 



Probable exciting cause. —Human 

 source. 



Reporter and reference. — DrT. Dean 

 (Med. Off. of Health). Med. Times 

 and Gazette, 1877, vol. i., p. 72. 



Salford, 1876 {December). 



Total number of cases . . 13 

 Number of cases amongst 



drinkers of suspected milk . 13 

 Percentage on total cases . .100 

 Number of polluted milk sources I 

 Number of milkmen . . . i 



Circumstances implicating the milk 

 supply. — Typhoid fever had been fre- 

 quent at a certain farm (16 cases in 20 

 years). There were various sanitary 

 defects at the farm. The milk supply 

 went to houses of well-to-do people, 

 and there was no intercommunication 

 between the families. Those members 

 of the various families who largely 

 partook of the milk in its unmixed form 

 were alone affected. 



Probable exciting cause. — Human 

 source. 



Reporter and referetKe. — Dr G. 

 Tatham (Med. Off. of Health). Annual 

 Rep., 1875-76. 



Greenock, 1876 {February). 



Total number of cases . . 20 

 Number of polluted milk sources i 

 Number of milkmen . . . i 



Circumstarues implicating the milk 

 supply. — A farmer's familyand servants 



