DIPHTHERIA 113 



A large epidemic of diphtheria 29 which broke out 

 among the inhabitants of the villages along the coast 

 north of Copenhagen, in 1881, offered conditions of prop- 

 agation which strongly signified that milk was the means 

 of spreading the contagion. 



In 1893 a small epidemic was noted in Lund, Sweden, 

 when eight persons in different families were sick with 

 diphtheria. These cases were traced to the use of milk 

 from a farm near Lund which was infected with diph- 

 theria. 30 



Quite an extended epidemic occurred in 1886 in Frim- 

 ley, England; in the course of a few days 70 cases of 

 diphtheria occurred, distributed in more than 30 fam- 

 ilies, 15 cases being fatal. All the sick had received milk 

 from the same dairy. Not one case of diphtheria oc- 

 curred during this time among those using milk from 

 other dairies. 31 



[The medical literature of recent years contains 

 many reports of milk-borne outbreaks of diphtheria, a 

 number of which are gathered and summarized by 

 Swithinbank and Newman. 32 The following case, cited 

 in their summary, is instructive. At Ashtabula, Ohio, 

 100 persons became affected with diphtheria in Decem- 

 ber, 1894. The houses in which the disease occurred 

 were widely separated but milk was taken at all of them 

 from the same dairyman. On the farm of this dairyman, 

 a workman had a very sore throat, probably diphthe- 

 ritic. This person had assisted in the work of the dairy 

 while suffering acutely from sore throat. Of 44 house- 

 holds investigated, it was found that 32 had received 



29 Ugeskrift for Laeger, 1881. 



30 Hospitalstidende, 1893. 



31 Ref. in Milchzeitung, 1886, p. 835. 

 32 Bacteriology of Milk. 



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