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112
In May, 1888, a sudden small outbreak of Scarlet
Fever was brought to my knowledge. It appeared that
between the 6th and 9th of the month, at a time when
Scarlet Fever was not prevailing in the Parish, it broke out
in nine scattered houses, all of which, as it turned out, were
supplied by one milkman. But in the large majority of the
houses supplied by the same milkman there was no occurrence
of the disease. On investigation there was found to
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be no Scarlet Fever, nor had their been any, in the milkman's
family or among his servants, and his cows, with one
exception, were healthy. The one cow presented sores and
scabs on one of its teats, which had a resemblance to those
observed two or three years ago on some cows at a dairy at
Hendon, which Dr. Klein regarded as the evidence of an
'
attack of bovine Scarlet Fever, and to which he attributed
an outbreak of Scarlet Fever, which had occurred among
the customers of the cow-keeper to whom these cows
belonged. Dr. Klein was invited to examine this cow; and
I have heard that he has come to the conclusion that the
disease was identical with that met with in the Hendon
cows. It is right, however, to add that Dr. Klein's views
are not accepted by all competent observers. Further, the
disease in the present instances did not spread to other
cows. Subsequently I ascertained that one of the milkman's
servants was a lodger at a house in the neighbourhood,
whence, on the 25th April immediately preceding,
a case of Scarlet Fever had been removed to Hospital,
and in which disinfection of the room occupied by the
patient had been carried out under the supervision of one
of the Inspectors on the 26th. It turned out that the house
was occupied by a man and his wife, and that the patient
and the servant of the milkman were their lodgers occupying
separate rooms; and further, that the husband and the