APPENDIX I 



Milk as a Carrier of Infectious Diseases 



Milk may acquire infective properties after it leaves 

 the udder of the animal. Numerous instances have beea 

 observed in which outbreaks of typhoid fever, scarlet 

 fever, and diphtheria, by their sudden and explosive 

 character, affecting families living in streets and locali- 

 ties supplied by the same milkman, naturally pointed to 

 the milk supply as a common cause. Dr. Michael Tay- 

 lor, however, was the first physician (in 1857) to point 

 out definitely that cow's milk might serve as a medium 

 of spreading typhoid fever from a dairy where the dis- 

 ease prevailed. In 1867 he also showed that scarlet 

 fever might be distributed in the same way. In 1877 

 Jacob traced a diphtheria epidemic at Sutton, England, 

 to the milk supply ; and in 1872 Macnamera traced an 

 outbreak of cholera at Calcutta, India, to an infected 

 dairy. These facts could not fail to sharpen the powers 

 of observation in others, and in consequence similar 

 outbreaks were more frequently reported, so that Dr. 

 Kober was enabled to present to the International Medi- 

 cal Congress, held in Paris in 1900, the history of 195 

 outbreaks of typhoid fever, 99 of scarlet fever, and 36 

 of diphtheria, all traceable to the milk supply. 



It has been demonstrated that disease germs may not 

 only survive, but in many instances actually proliferate, 

 in the milk, and it is not a difficult matter to point out 

 the many ways by which these germs gain access, espe- 

 cially when some of the Employees are also engaged in 



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