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43
Re-port of the Medical Officer of Health.
Three of the cases were in adults and eight in children, and as
none of the families were personally acquainted with one another
suspicion was at once directed to the supply of milk.
I visited the milk shop on the 8th September and had a
personal interview with the proprietor. The families affected
were supplied by seven different men in his employ, and these men
were, and had been for some time, in good health, nor was there
any illness among their families, or in the houses in which they
resided.
I ascertained the names and addresses of the farms from which
the milk was derived, and I at once communicated with the
Medical Officers of Health of the districts in which the farms were
situated, asking them to make inquiries and inform me at once.
In the meantime, however, the proprietor of the milkshop,
on his own initiative, visited the farms, four in number, and found
that on three of them there had been no illness of an infectious
nature among the farm employees, or in the neighbourhood for
years.
At the fourth farm it was ascertained that a lad employed by
the farmer had been sent home on the 3rd September as he had
informed the farmer that his sister had Scarlet Fever.
This case was the probable cause of the outbreak in this
Borough, although nothing further could be ascertained as to any
other cases in the neighbourhood, or as to any direct connection
between the case and the farm. The case was not removed to an
isolation hospital, but treated at home. The brother did not milk
the cows, but attended to the refrigerator, and as the amount of
milk sent from the farm was small, the number of cases occurring
was also small.
I advised the milk dealer to cease taking milk from that
particular farm for a week and this he consented to do and
advised the farmer accordingly.
The supply of milk was resumed on the 16th September, on
the 25th other two cases were notified, followed by three on the
28th, two on the 29th, and two on the 30th. I advised the milk
seller to Pasteurise this milk, keeping it separate from the other
supplies, and as a consequence no further cases occurred.