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54
Milk-Bourne Scarlet Fever Outbreak.
During 1909, an interesting Scarlet Fever milk-borne
outbreak occurred, affecting Lambeth Borough and other
Districts. In June, upwards of 400 persons living in districts
in London and Surrey and consuming milk obtained
from a particular milk company were attacked by Scarlet
Fever. The chief incidence of the outbreak was at Kingston,
Merton, Worcester Park, Coombe, Wimbledon and Croydon,
though Chelsea, Westminster, Wandsworth and Lambeth
were affected slightly. The Lambeth outbreak appears
to have been limited to a public institution, and would
have been more widely extended therein, had it not been
for the fact that all milk used by the institution was Pasteurised
before use in a Pott's Pasteuriser, except such
milk as was to be used for cooking purposes. The inmates
and patients of the institution escaped infection, although
there were many susceptible persons (e.g., children, invalids,
etc.), who partook of the milk at the time, and it was the
Members of the Nursing Staff alone who were affected, viz.,
5 Nurses and 1 Kitchenmaid. The Nursing Staff occupies
the Nurses' Home, away from the rest of the institution.
Enquiry showed that the milk used by the Nursing Staff
was not pasteurised, although that fact was unknown to
the management of the institution at the time, and that
had it been so, as was the case with the rest of the milk
consumed by the inmates of the institution, even these six
cases of Scarlet Fever would, doubtlessly, have been prevented.
The infected milk was traced to a farm in a county far
removed from London, and it appears that the infection
arose, not from a human source, but from the cows which
were found to be afflicted with diseases of the teats and
udders, some of the cows having recently calved.
The facts as detailed are interesting, and point to the
value of all milk being pasteurised or sterilised before being