PASTEURISING of MILK

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26477, 19 July 1951, Page 6

PASTEURISING of MILK

NEED EMPHASISED BY MANUFACTURERS

CHECKING SPREAD OF UNDULANT FEVER

After hearing a report about the incidence and causes of undulant fever from the District Industrial Medical Officer (Dr, D. P. Kennedy), tha council of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association decided last evening to press for the complete pasteurisation of all milk in Christchurch. A table showing New Zealand notiflcations (Europeans only), over a 10year period, of notifiable industrial diseases, namely lead poisoning, phosphorus poisoning, and anthrax, compared with notifications of undulant fever, was given by Dr. Kennedy. In that period, there were 293 cases of undulant fever, 48 of lead poisoning, one of phosphorus poisoning, and no cases of anthrax.

It would be fair to say that twothirds of the undulant fever cases have occurred in men between the ages of 20 and 40, so that two-thirds of the notification* (approximately 200) can be strictly compared against the notifications of industrial diseases,” said Dr. Kennedy. “From thoae figures alone, it would be seen that unaulant fever interfered more with industry than the notifiable industrial diseases. “Undulant fever is a disease caused by Brucella abortus which is the organism responsible for the widespread disease in cattle known as contagious abortion,” Dr. Kennedy said. “If the udder is infected, as it frequently is, Brucella abortus may be excreted in the milk for weeks or months on end, human beings in consequence being infected by ingestion of raw milk.”, T °wn Milk Consumption Figures taken from the Marketing Department’s report for 1950, giving the amount of pasteurised milk used throughout New Zealand as a percentage of the total consumed, were quoted by Dr. Kennedy. The percentages were:—Auckland 94, Wellington 81. Nelson 93, New Plymouth 95. Palmerston North 90. Gisborne 47 Oamaru 89, Timaru 77, Wanganui 52' Dunedin 44, Napier-Hastings 36, Christchurch 24.

In view of these figures, it is little wonder that already this year there have been 15 cases of undulant fever notified In Christchurch, of which eight were admitted to hospital,” said Dr. Kennedy. “All these cases were adults and all used raw milk. _“lt is not Possible to give figures of the time lost to industry through disease (including undulant fever), as the particulars are not available; but from tentative investigations of my own. based on the total of some 1000 to 1200 workers, in general industry, m y conclusion is that the loss of time from sickness is about six times the loss of time from industrial accidents. The latter loss is high enough to cause con- . T?® iignificance of undulant fever m • lt ti pa i rt th® sickness loss; (2) it is entirely preventable; and (3) W *n an *? e c° m Pletely prevented by the utilisation of pasteurised bottled milk,” Dr. Kennedy concluded.