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11. The hands of milkers should be thoroughly washed with soap and
hot water before milking, and if they become soiled during milking, the
washing should be repeated. If a cow has any affection of the udder or
teats, the hands should bo washed immediately after it has been milked
and before proceeding to another cow. Equal cleanliness is necessary for
all employed in dairies.
12. The milk should be emptied into the churns in a clean covered
place, well away from the cowshed and dung-pit. It should be cooled by
some form of refrigerator before being sent out.
13. There is one form of disease common to cattle and human beings,
which from its frequency far surpasses in importance all other diseases.
This is tubercle: causing grape disease, pearl disease, wasters, piners,
snorters, wens, and hard swellings of the udders in cows : and consump
tion, consumptive bowels, and inflammation of the brain in human
beings.
14. There is no doubt that when the tubercle in the cow affects the
udder, the milk conveys germs of the disease to those who drink it,
causing in the susceptible the diseases just mentioned. Probably a large
proportion of children who die from consumptive bowels and inflammation
of the brain are infected by milk.
15. Tubercle being an infectious disease, plenty of fresh air, by the
cows being out in the fields in summer, and having ample cubic space and
ventilation in the cowshed, together with separation of those affected, are
the important measures of prevention.
16. The discovery of Koch's tuberculin has given us a sure means of
detecting tubercle, which often exists without shewing obvious symptoms.
The injection of this substance causes a feverish re-action in the tuberculous
cow for one or two days, but healthly ones are unaffected.
17. Cows who re-act should be separated from the others, and if the
disease is not far advanced, and they are suitably treated, many will
recover,
18. In this way many herds of cows have been completely freed from
tubercle, to the great advantage of the owners and the public, who ara
learning to suspect all milk from cows which have not been tested.
19. Anyone wishing to apply the tuberculin test to his cows should
communicate with the Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, Camden
Town, N.W.
20. Cowkeepers are strongly recommended when buying new cows to
insist on having with them a certificate from a Veterinary Surgeon that
they have been tested with tuberculin and found free from tubercle.
SIDNEY DAVIES, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.