519 
BOTRYOMYCOSIS. 
Botryomycosis of the udder is only occasionally met with, but 
when it is observed the utilization of the milk therefrom should not 
be permitted. The disease is chronic and is accompanied by new 
connective tissue formation and burrowing sinuses from which pus 
escapes. Mixed infection is liable to occur in this disease also, which 
adds to the danger of consuming the milk. 
ANTHRAX. 
In this disease the milk has an abnormal appearance and decom- 
poses rapidly. The bacterium of anthrax has been recovered from 
milk fourteen days after it had been taken from an infected cow, 
which illustrates the importance of prohibiting the use of milk from 
such animals. 
COWPOX. 
This disease, which is probably becoming more common in this 
country, renders the milk unfit for food, and its distribution from 
cows so affected should not be permitted, inasmuch as the milk may 
become contaminated from the pustules and ulcers on the teats and in 
the sinuses of the udder, and produce infection by the alimentary 
canal of young children if it is consumed in a raw state. 
The appearance of dark-brown crusts on the teats and udders of 
cattle is suggestive of several conditions and should be carefully ex- 
amined, particularly since the isolation by Dean and Todd of an 
organism identical with the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus from such lesions 
as well as from the milk. Diphtheria is not a disease of cattle, but it 
is possible for an abrasion to become infected with this organism 
from a human origin and the local lesion to spread until it involves 
the milk sinuses. It was also suggested that this udder lesion might 
be due to an infected milker following the all too common habit of 
spitting on his hands before commencing to milk, and the bacillus 
passing up the milk duct might thereby infect the sinus. 
RABIES. 
The virus of rabies has in several instances been reported to have 
been passed to the offspring through the mother’s milk. While it is 
not probable that cattle would be milked after the symptoms of rabies 
developed, it is nevertheless important to realize the danger of using 
such milk and the necessity for preventing calves from sucking such 
diseased cows. 
