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74
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Recently a new departure has been made in the preparation of
milk. It is now dried between steam rollers and sold as a powder
from which nothing but water has been abstracted, and to which
nothing but water requires to be added to make wholesome, clean,
and sterile milk. It seems to me that this solves the whole problem
of unclean milk and does away with any necessity for sterilizing it.
It is in my opinion inadvisable for a Sanitary Authority to do for people
what they can and ought to do for themselves.
This dried milk can be easily obtained and prepared and, judging
from the results already obtained, its use would largely do away with
deaths of infants from Epidemic Diarrhœa.
It would be advisable before next summer for this Authority to
print a short circular calling attention to the high mortality from this
disease and giving short and concise instructions as to how it may be
prevented. These circulars could be left at every house in the poorer
localities, and I am of opinion that this, combined with the education
of girls at continuation classes, would have beneficial results.
With regard to the cost of providing a milk depot, the first cost
would not be less than £1,000, and it would in all probability cost
that sum each year to keep it working properly. In Liverpool the
annual cost is over £4,000 and the cost to the rates over £2,000 per
annum.
The following Table shows the death-rates from Diarrhœa per
1,000 in the various Metropolitan Boroughs for the years 1901, 1902
and 1903