EPIDEMIC SORE THROAT TRACED TO MILK

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1746, 23 August 1905, Page 59

EPIDEMIC SORE THROAT TRACED TO MILK

An extensive and severe outbreak of a disease of . which the most prominent symptom was sore throat, occurred in Colchester during the second half of April. The epidemic was very fully inquired into by the Medical Officer of Health for Colchester, Dr Savage, and formed the subject of an interesting paper read by him before the Colchester Medical Society on May 16. The outbreak involved apparently 500 to 600 persons, and was sharply localised to the western parts of the town, the cases of sore throat in other parts being not above the average. The essential symptoms were those of septic sore throat

with considerable constitutional disturbance and high temperature. Bacteriologically they all showed streptococci. Some of the cases clinically very closely resembled diphtheria, and could he diagnosed only by bacteriological investigation. The outbreak began about April 16, and ceased about April 20, but the greater number of the cases occurred between April 20 and April 25. Many cases were very severe, but there were no deaths. Females were particularly attacked, being attacked about three or four times as frequently as males, while adults were more affected than children. A consideration of the possible causes led the Medical Officer of Health to suspect milk as the, cause,, and by information supplied to him by medical men in practice in the town, and by the results of house-to-house inquiries he was enabled to confirm this hypothesis. Of 140 cases of sore throat reported to the Medical Officer of Health from all over the town, 123, or 88 per cent., were from one particular milk vendor, while of those from the part of the town specially affected, no less than 96.6 per cent, of the households had their milk 'from the same milkman. The house-to-house inquiries showed the same incidence even more clearly. In 57 houses supplied by this milk vendor there were 53 cases of sore throat, while in the 217 houses from all the other milk dealers, there were only 13 cases, and this among a population of 941 people. The implicated milk vendor obtained his milk from six farms, and Dr Savage, in his paper, showed that one particular milk round was especially affected, and that this usually received the milk from one particular farm. All the six far ms were visited and the cows examined. One of the cows of the suspected farm had extensive mastitis, while there had been and were .a number of cases of sore throat on this farm. All the cows on the other farms were apparently healthy. After the milk from this diseased cow was stopped there were no further cases, as far as could he made out. Dr Savage in his paper discussed the cause of the outbreak, and said that he could come to no other conclusion than that th© outbreak was due to- consumption of milk infected from this diseased animal.