London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Croydon 1921
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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The seven Surrey Milks were all procured at one farm.
The cows on this farm had previous to the procuring of the
samples been tested with Tuberculin and a number of them had
re-acted. The cows were first-class dairy cows in good condition.
The udders were normal. No clinical evidence of tuberculosis was
found. The cows were housed in well-constructed modern sheds.
On the occasion of procuring the primary samples, the ows
were divided into groups a sample being taken from the mixed milk
of the cows in each group. One of the samples on examination
was found tuberculous, and secondary samples from the milk of this
group were also tuberculous.
All the suspected cows were isolated for the purpose of being
fattened for slaughter, and at the end of the year five of them had
been slaughtered—in each of the five cases tuberculous lesions
were found in various organs but in no case were the lesions
extensive.
The following table shows the number of primary samples of town and country milks submitted for examination with the number and percentage of samples in which tuberculosis was found:-
| Year. | Town Milk. | No. Positive. | Per, centage. | Country Milk. | No. Positive. | Percentage. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 40 | 2 | 5 | - | - | - |
| 1901 | 1 | - | - | 87 | 5 | 5.7 |
| 1902 | - | - | - | 6 | - | - |
| 1904 | 30 | 1 | 3.3 | - | - | - |
| 1908 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 3 | 14.2 |
| 1911 | 16 | 1 | 6.2 | 39 | 6 | 15.4 |
| 1912 | 14 | 1 | 7.1 | 31 | 1 | 3.2 |
| 1913 | 14 | 4 | 28.5 | 49 | 4 | 8.1 |
| 1914 | 12 | 1 | 8.3 | 45 | 5 | 11.1 |
| 1915 | 19 | 1 | 5.2 | 53 | 2 | 3.8 |
| 1916 | 7 | 1 | 14.2 | 26 | 3 | 11.5 |
| *1917-1920 | - | - . | - | - | - | - |
| 1921 | 1 | - | - | 11 | 2 | 18.1 |
| Totals | 179 | 13 | 7.3 | 368 | 81 | 8.4 |
| *No Samples taken owing to war difficulties. | ||||||
Total Town and Country Milks 547
,, Positive samples 44
Percentage Tubercular 8%