98 MILK HYGIENE 



In the literature there are reports of numerous simi- 

 lar epidemics of inflammation of the throat in man 

 which had their origin in infection through milk, but 

 there are no proofs that these were caused by cases of 

 mastitis. They may have come from a later contamina- 

 tion of the milk with pathogenic bacteria. 



[A large number of cases of this sort are recorded by 

 Swithinbank and Newman in their " Bacteriology of 

 Milk," published in 1903. L. P.] 



Since cases of udder inflammation in which the secre- 

 tion contains bacteria harmful to man cannot be differ- 

 entiated by clinical means from the less dangerous, the 

 milk of every cow affected with mastitis should be re- 

 garded as injurious to health. This applies not alone 

 to the altered secretion, but also to the apparently nor- 

 mal milk from the parts of the udder not affected. The 

 diseased secretion will always soil the udder and teats, 

 and therefore there is no warranty that the bacteria in 

 question do not fall into the milk when drawn from a 

 healthy section of the udder. This is true especially 

 when the improper practice is followed of milking the 

 diseased secretion on the floor. 



If a case of gangrenous mastitis appears in the 

 herd, the affected animal must be removed from the 

 stable, since it is possible that the milk will be contam- 

 inated with bacteria that are often especially virulent 

 and that multiply very rapidly. Upon the occurrence of 

 infectious inflammations of the udder in a milch herd it 

 may be necessary to forbid the sale of milk that is not 

 boiled. Milk from a herd affected with this disease 

 should never be used as l i nursery milk. ' ' 



i. Acute croupous and hernorrhagic enteritis. Some- 

 times a virulent enteritis occurs among young cattle ; it 

 appears less often among mature cattle ; it may appear 

 as a sporadic disease or as a small epidemic. This dis- 



