A preliminary inquiry concerning the milk supply of schools / by C.E. Shelly.

  • Shelly, Charles Edward, 1854-
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A preliminary inquiry concerning the milk supply of schools / by C.E. Shelly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    resident in this eulture-inediurn t Again, given infected milk, what reputation is deserved hy cheese nu'ule therefrom ; and does infected cream gain or lose in virulence when churned into butter/ How do similar considerations apply to milk (and its products) infected by other pathogenic microbes (e.g., (lij)htheria, scarlatina, septic sore throat) ? Precise informa- tion on these points would be extremely valuable. One of tlie above schools (No. 35) also doubtfully at- tributes an “ ? e])idemic outbreak of sore throat ” to ])ossible infection through milk. Sub-Group 1).—Precautions taken to safeguard the Source of the milk su))ply, but no special treatment of the milk on the school ])remises prior to distribution :—Seven schools. Xos. 7, 8, 11, 15, 19, 3*2, 37. One draws its su}>ply from a source subject to the school's own su]H'rvision : 3 have each their own school dairy farm—and one of tlu'st' also tests all the cows on its own school farm \\ ith tuberculin : 2 draw th(‘ir su))))lies from “general’' sources, subject, in each case to insj)cction by the school authorities. No doubt a desirable addition to these ])recautions would be the conveyance of the milk to the school in sj)ecial sealed or locked cans, and the storage of the milk, when received on the school ])remises, in a ])roperly constructed dairy-room. But. as it is, these 7 schools, dealing only with the milk at its source, re])resenting some 3,291 ])upils, and 22,730 yearly ob.servations, make a return of no illness of any kind traced to milk-infection. Tlie entrance age ranges from 10 to 12 years. The above figures, as already ])ointed out, are far too limited to form the foundation of absolute conclusions. I can oidy ho])c that my analysis of the returns may help to make more clear such indications as they do suggest. In compiling the figures 1 have in every doubtful case tried to lean to the side of safety—e.g., the pu])ils really stay more like years at each school, on the average, instead of b years ; and, had the former figures been taken, the resulting ])crcentages would have read more favourably than they do l)V nearly on(*-third. .Vgain, in at U‘ast one large school, at which it is slattul that the milk has bc(*n boiled “ for some years pa.st,“ 1 have assumed t!u\t it has been so treated throughout the thirty years covered by that return, instead of for oidy about half that time, as is, 1 believe, really the fact. But our object is, not to “ make a cas<\'’ but, as far as may be, to ascertain—ap|)roximately, at all events—what are the facts. ddie suggestion is ventured that, in con-