[Report 1895] / Medical Officer of Health, Cheltenham Borough.

  • Cheltenham (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Report 1895] / Medical Officer of Health, Cheltenham Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/66 (page 15)
    than this had previously been considered sufficient, some overcrowding having consequently resulted. Provision as to the floors and general construction of all cowsheds were inserted in the original draft oi the byelaws, but when sent to the Local Government Board for ratification, these were struck out as being ultra vires. Consequently the sheds are not for the greater part such model structures as one might wish them to be. The limewashing of the sheds which came as an innovation to some of the cowkeepers, was also carried out in accordance with the provision in the the byelaws, copies of the latter being sent to each cow- keeper. In one important instance the condition of the flooring of a shed was such as to admit of its being dealt with as a nuisance, and improved ventilation was demanded in more than one case. 17 persons made application during the year for regis- tration as dairymen or purveyors of milk, and of these 13 were ultimately placed upon the register, after all amend- ments required in the sanitary condition of the several premises had been made good according to notices served upon the owners. So far as could be judged no milk supply was last year responsible for any case of infectious disease or at least there was no evidence of several cases arising concomitantly in persons supplied from the same dairy. Our experience, however, has not always been so happy as this, and the case against milk, as a favourable medium for the growth of disease bacteria,which may have been accidentally introduced into it, has been made out over and over again. The possi- bility of milk yielded by tuberculous cows, containing from the first the tubercle bacilli, and the likelihood of any person predisposed to consumption receiving into his system the exciting cause of this fell disease through milk, is quite sufficient in itself to demonstrate the necessity of having all milk supplies placed under more stringent regulations. The periodic inspection and testing for tubercle in milch kine, by a veterinary surgeon would appear to be the only course likely to insure in any considerable degree against the sale of tuberculous milk. As it is there is practically no barrier to this serious risk. The process of milking itself is also