CHAPTER XV 



IMPORTANCE OF MASTITIS TO MILK CONTROL 



If the milk is to be used as food for man it must have a 

 normal appearance and must contain no bacteria which are 

 pathogenic for the human family. If the milk is mixed 

 with blood, due to bruising of the udder, it is unfit for use 

 as a human food. Naturally, however, the milk from the 

 healthy quarters may be utilized. 



The udder-infections are more important. Streptococci, 

 staphylococci, colon bacilli, tubercle bacilli and actino- 

 myces fungus cause disease in man. Of the infectious 

 organisms of the udder of the cow the pyogenes bacillus 

 alone is not concerned in the production of disease in man 

 so far as is known. Caution demands, however, that it be 

 considered dangerous to the human family until the con- 

 trary has been proved. 



The Following Rules are Indicated. — All milk 

 from the infected quarter is unfit for use as food for man. 



Even if the other quarters of the udder are free from 

 the infection, the milk from the infected quarter can easily 

 get into the milk from the healthy quarters during milking 

 in spite of every precaution. Therefore the milk from the 

 healthy quarters should be pasteurized or boiled before it is 

 used, as a precautionary measure. 



To prevent contamination of the milk of the other cows 

 the diseased animal must be isolated and milked last. For 

 the same reason the milk from the diseased quarter must 

 be disinfected so as to avoid unnecessary increase in the 

 pathogenic bacterial flora of the cow stable. 



When the infection disappears and the milk becomes 

 normal again it may be used without boiling or pasteurizing 

 and the rules concerning isolation may be discarded. 



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