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57
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
of milk but also as an assistant to the manager, and took some part in
filling the various churns for distribution by other men in the firm's
employ. The manager of the company was interviewed at once and
information was obtained from him as to the source of this milk
supply. The Medical Officers of Health of the districts where the
farms are situated were communicated with and information was
received from them to the effect that no cases of Scarlet Fever had
been notified to them in these districts for some considerable time.
My attention was then directed to the possible spread of the
disease by the distributor, who maybe called No.1. and it was found
that out of the 18 households affected this particular distributor
directly supplied eight, and that in all probability he came into contact
with the milk supply of the other consumers. The houses of all the
other distributors were visited and careful enquiries were made as to
any illness, but in every case the men themselves and their families
were found to be in good health.
I advised the manager of the firm not to allow No.1 distributor
to resume work for a fortnight and in the meantime he was advised
to have his personal clothing disinfected and also to be personally
cleansed.
No case occurred in which the first symptoms appeared after the
8th April, so that in all probability the infection only existed from
about the 29th March to the 5th or 6th of April.
It was not without some reluctance that I concluded that this man
was the cause of infection as it has hitherto been believed that infection
by means of an intermediary is almost impossible. One explanation
may be that this man suffered from sore throat or even without
suffering from this that he was carrying about the germs of the disease
and in this way infected the milk.
A large proportion of these cases occurred among persons not
connected with the Board Schools and one extraordinary feature was
that four of the cases were domestic servants.
I am pleased to report that the manager of the dairy company was
most willing to carry out all my instructions and did so at once.
P. CALDWELL SMITH,
Medical Officer of Health.