[Report 1950] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council.

  • Cumberland (England). County Council.
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1950] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    103/148 (page 103)
    Now as to results. Out of the S88 samples taken, only two were positive for tubercle, that is approxi- mately .5 per cent. This is an astonishing figure, because for many years the results of sampling for tubercle, which used to be confined largely to desig- nated herds (tuberculin tested, attested, and accredited) never fell below .7 per cent, and, on the average, were approximately 1.2 per cent, positive for tubercle. It is all the more astonishing because there is no check on the intake to ungraded and accredited herds. A cow may be, and no doubt often is, thrown out of an attested herd through failing to pass the test, and is passed into the open market, the ultimate destination in all probability being an ungraded herd. One would therefore have expected the incidence of tuberculosis to be higher in ungraded herds than in the other groups, but events have proved the contrary, so far as sampling is concerned. Attention is however, drawn to the findings of the clinical inspection of dairy herds which follow. Unfortunately the Milk and Dairies Regulations, 1949, made under Sections 20 and 92 of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, as amended by later acts, completely eliminates any mention of county councils as authorities to be supplied with information regarding tuberculous milk. This information is now only supplied to local sanitary authorities, presumably for the purpose of section 20 of the above regulations. Whether sanitary authorities do in fact use their powers under this Section, I do not know. That is not our concern, but it is regrettable that information regarding tuberculous milk need not be sent to county councils, who are primarily the authorities responsible for controlling the safety of school milks. As a purely local arrange- ment and through the courtesy of the Divisional Inspector of the Ministry of Agriculture, however, I do know the history of the two cases mentioned above, in which samples of milk were found to contain tubercle. One cow suffering from tuberculosis of the udder was detected and slaughtered from each of the herds concerned. It is satisfactory to note that no tubercle was found in any school sample during the year, but while on the subject of school milks, I would like to say that