356 VETERINARY STATE BOARD 



and a dairyman. Although subject to slight variations (principally 

 with regard to the maximum bacterial and minimum butter-fat 

 content) , the conditions are as follows : The milk must be clean and 

 wholesome and obtained from healthy cows which are kept in sani- 

 tary quarters, fed wholesome feed, and given pure water. It must be 

 drawn from clean cows by clean, healthy attendants into clean recep- 

 tacles and in a clean atmosphere. It must be handled in a clean 

 manner, cooled quickly, put into sterile receptacles, placed in cold 

 storage, and iced in transportation when necessary. The bacterial 

 content must not exceed 10,000 per c.c, and the fat-content must 

 equal or exceed 4 per cent. 



Name some of the diseases that may be transmitted through the 

 medium of milk. 

 Typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, foot-and- 

 mouth disease, actinomycosis, anthrax, cholera infantum, etc. 



Describe the dangers of infection to man through the consumption of 

 cow's milk, covering (a) infection from bovine, (b) infec- 

 tion from germs added to the liquid during or after milking. 

 How may these dangers be guarded against? 



(a) Tuberculosis, actinomycosis, foot-and-mouth disease, and 

 anthrax may be transmitted from the cow to man through the milk. 

 Strict veterinary supervision of the herd should eliminate these 

 dangers. 



(b) Diphtheria, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, and typhoid fever 

 may enter the milk during or after milking. To guard against this 

 danger, the milker and milker's family should be free from infec- 

 tious diseases. All bottles or other receptacles returned from houses 

 holding cases of contagious diseases should be carefully sterilized 

 or, better, destroyed. Dogs and cats carry disease germs, and should 

 be Excluded from the stable and dairy-house. The water supply 

 should be pure. 



State in what way milk may become a means of transmitting the germs 

 of typhoid fever. 

 The milk may become infected with the typhoid bacillus through 

 flies, dust, contact with human patients suffering from this disease, 

 cows wading in filth containing bowel and urinary discharges of 

 human beings and contaminating the udder with germs of typhoid 

 fever and thus conveying them to the milk ; the water supply to the 

 milk-house ; bottles returned from houses holding typhoid patients. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



