715 
Upon receipt by the health department of a report of a case of 
typhoid fever, scarlet fever, or diphtheria, an inspector from the 
health department visits the premises where the patient is and ascer- 
tains the name of the dairyman who furnished the milk consumed by 
the patient prior to the onset of his illness. The dairyman is im- 
mediately notified to discontinue leaving milk bottles at the infected 
premises or apartment until after the recovery or removal of the 
patient, of which event he is notified at the time of its occurrence. 
Bottles containing milk, if left at infected places, may be taken into 
the sick room and possibly even directly used by the patient, and then, 
in view of imperfect methods of disinfection adopted by the attend- 
ants and of imperfect methods of cleaning adopted by the dairymen, 
may be the means bf spreading disease. The name of the dairyman 
who supplies milk to the patient having been ascertained, and the 
dairyman having been notified to discontinue the delivery of bottles 
at the infected place, the case is entered on the records of the health 
department to the dairyman’s account. This is done by the inspector 
in charge- of the contagious-disease service personally, and if at any 
time it seems that the number of cases being charged to any one dairy- 
man is out of proportion to the size of his business, due regard being 
paid to the general extent to which the disease is prevailing in the 
District, then inquiry is immediately begun to ascertain ivhether his 
milk supply is or is not exposed to infection. Such investigations are 
made by medical officers in the contagious-disease service and by the 
veterinary surgeons in the milk-inspection service. The local estab- 
lishment of the milk dealer is visited and an effort made to ascertain 
whether he or anyone in his famity, or any employee or his family, or 
anyone to whom they have been exposed, is suffering from the disease 
under consideration. A similar course is pursued with reference to 
the dairy farm. The water from the dairy farm is analyzed, if there 
is any indication for such procedure. If the circumstances show that 
the milk supply is exposed to infection, then immediate action is taken 
to remove the danger. Permits are suspended or revoked, with or 
without notice, if circumstances indicate that such action is called for, 
and are renewed or reissued only after all danger is passed. In some 
cases it has been found possible to remove the source of danger with- 
out putting the dairyman out of business, and whenever possible such 
measures, less radical so far as the dairyman is concerned, have been 
adopted. While the method outlined above for detecting and remov- 
ing danger from infected milk is not ideal, in that it does not reveal 
the presence or the location of the disease until a small or possibly a 
large number of persons have been infected, yet, so far as is known, it 
is the only practicable method that has yet been devised. The safety 
of the community with respect to the possible spread of communi- 
