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94
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
possible for the water to be polluted in transit from the source
to the farm.
"I also made an inspection of another farm about a mile
and a half distant, to which the cows from the infected farm
were to be removed, and I am of opinion that if the cows are
removed, and if the water supply is satisfactory, there will be
no risk in permitting the milk to be sent to this Borough for
distribution.
"At the present time the farmer is making cheese from
the milk of the cows at the farm, but whether the processes
which are carried on in its manufacture will be sufficient to
destroy the typhoid bacillus is a matter not yet practically
decided. Theoretically these processes should be inimical to
the existence of this bacillus, and I called the attention of the
Medical Officer of Health of the district to this fact.
"This outbreak has made me realise more fully the importance
of the notification of all cases of infectious disease
by the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which the
farm is situated to the Medical Officer of Health of the district
to which milk is sent. If this had been done in this outbreak
the milk supply would have been stopped on the 30th
January, and it is quite possible that some of the persons
would not have been infected. I am of opinion that it would
be advisable to call the attention of the Local Government
Board to this so that a clause could be inserted in the Milk
Bill which is shortly to come before Parliament.
"In conclusion, during the whole period of the outbreak
in the necessary inquiries I have been assisted very much by
the purveyor in this Borough."
The outbreak, although a small one owing to the measures
taken, might have proved excedingly serious, and 1 have to thank
both Dr. Crookshank, of Barnes, and Dr. Streeten, of Swindon, for
the help given in elucidating the cause. We were not quite
satisfied that the first case at Highworth, notified on the 21st
January, was the cause of all the cases that occurred in this
Borough and in Barnes, unless the case was infective some days
before it was seen by the medical attendant.