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48
MILK AND SORE THROAT DISEASE.
During the early part of the year 1900 an outbreak of septic sore
throat disease occurred in the district of Hackney, which upon
investigation I could only ascribe to the malevolent qualities of a
special milk supply. The full report is given in the appendix.
The experience derived from this and a previous epidemic, where
a milk supply was implicated in the spread of infectious disease,
convinces me that very little progress will be made in the elucidation
of the relationship of milk to epidemic disease, until the local dealers
are compelled to supply to the local authorities a correct list of the
dealers and farmers from whom their milk is obtained, so as to enable
the Medical Officer of Health to proceed, immediately any milk
supply is suspected of spreading disease, to the source of the milk.
If Medical Officers of Health had this information, suspicious milk
supplies could be stopped at a much earlier date than at present;
samples of the suspected milk could also be taken and examined
while the infecting agent was still present in the milk, and thus
probably lead to the discovery of the pathogenic organism causing
the disease.
THE MORTUARY.
The following tables give the number of bodies deposited in the
mortuary during the year, also the number of inquests held there,
with the causes of deaths etc.
Number of bodies deposited in mortuary 414
(a) To await inquests 396
(b) Upon request of relatives, to await burial 18
Number of post-mortems made 141