116 MILK HYGIENE 



Malet '^ cites an example of a milk epidemic wherein 

 from August 21st to the 2d of September, 18 persons be- 

 longing to 11 households were attacked with scarlet 

 fever after drinking milk from a farm where there was 

 a scarlet fever patient. 



[The cases next following are selected from among 

 those cited by Swithinbank and Newman.^* 



Buffalo, New York (reported by Wende). " Two 

 outbreaks of scarlet fever occurring in 1899 in Buffalo 

 were traced to an infected milk supply. The first out- 

 break was that of 57 children, the second was less severe 

 and numbered only 20 cases. The channel of infection 

 was well traced out in the former, and it was found that 

 on the implicated dairy premises there were two cases 

 of desquamating scarlet fever. One was a child, aged 9, 

 the other a young man aged 19 who did the milking and 

 in other ways assisted in the dairy during his illness. 

 The 57 cases were almost simultaneous in occurrence, 

 and the severity of the attack appeared to depend upon 

 the quantity of the implicated milk consumed." 



London, 1901. The total number of cases was 293, all 

 resulting from one polluted milk source. " The out- 

 break occurred on the delivery course of a certain con- 

 tractor in London. He obtained milk from 38 farms. 

 On one of these farms there were four cases of scarlet 

 fever, the farmer, his wife, son and daughter. The cows 

 were healthy. ' ' The cases were widely scattered in Lon- 

 don but were all directly traceable to milk from the im- 

 plicated farm. " The large number of adults attacked 

 differentiated this outbreak from those of ordinary type. 

 After the regular distribution had been stopped the con- 



'' Reference in Recueil de med. vetr., 1895. 



^* Bacteriology of Milk. For original references to cases cited, 

 see this work. 



