ADDENDUM 



BOVINE SCARLET FEVER 



The possibility of the cow being an actual source of scarlet fever 

 was first advanced in 1882 by Power ^ as the results of his in- 

 vestigations into the source of an outbreak of scarlet fever in North 

 London. The practical importance of the matter was not, however, 

 fully advanced until after the conclusions of the Hendon outbreak 

 of 1905 had been formulated. 



Hendon Outbreak of Scarlet Fever. — This outbreak occurred in 

 N. London in 1885 and affected South Marylebone, St. Pancras, 

 Hampstead, and Hendon. The epidemiological inquiries - con- 

 ducted by Mr. (now Sir William) Power clearly showed that a 

 certain milk supply was at fault, the milk coming from a farm at 

 Hendon with about 90 to 100 cows. Power established that in the 

 four milk districts the disease began at one and the same time, 

 namely, about the end of November or beginning of December. 

 In the district supplied by one of the chief purveyors (Mr. X.) 

 scarlatina continued to attack the consumers day by day, and with 

 increased force up to the date of the inquiry. In the district into 

 which Mr. Y.'s (another purveyor) milk went, after attacking 

 the customers in some numbers for a few days at the end of 

 November and beginning of December, the disease showed no 

 fresh attacks for about ten days (a short but clearly and sharply 

 defined period of intermission) ; and then about the middle of 

 December attacked the customers again in larger numbers and 

 continued to do so up to the time of the inquiry. A third vendor, 

 Mr. Z., obtained five-sixths of his milk from the Hendon farm, yet 

 there was a total absence of scarlatina from among these customers. 

 Power found that on November 16, three newly -calved cows, 

 purchased from Derbyshire, had been received at the farm. 

 They were quarantined by themselves for some days. Power, 

 after minute inquiry, was able to show that scarlet fever among 

 Mr. X.'s customers appeared soon after the milk of these cows 

 v^as added to the milk delivered to X., that scarlatina among Y.'s 



' Meport of Medical Officer, Local Government Board, 1882, Tjy. 63. 

 2 Ibid., 1885, p. 73. 



114 



