Middletown transcript., 1914-10-10
CURRENT PRICES
DUTY OF A GOOD NEIGHBOR


Every family which has member il
with typhoid fever, scarlet fever, o.
other contagious disease, is entitled t.
the sympathy and int sit help of the
community. At the same time, the
stricken family should realize fully that
simple good citizenship calls upon its
members to do anything in their power
to prevent the spread of the contagion
to neighbors. In the country especially,
where there are seldom health officers
to impose rigid quarantines, the duty of
keeping the sick separated from the
we'll falls with peculiar weight on the
afflicted family. Ordinary neighborli-
ness demands that such family keep
its members away from others and pre-
vent outsiders from coming in contact
with the infection.
On farm producing and selling milk,
contagious disease such as typhoid or
scarlet fever demands special precau-
tions. A very few germs of these dis
eases allowed to get into the milk may
multiply rapidly and be a source of dis
ease in many families on the milk route
served by the farmer.
In the case of typhoid, the disease
may come from germs in the well
water, and this water if used unboiled
for cleansing milk bottles or cans may
very well start typhoid epidemic IN
neighboring town. Inspectors have
frequently traced outbreaks Of scarlet
fever and typhoid along a milk route
and back to the sick person on the pro
ducer's farm.
1t is the duty of every milk farmer to
see that no one who is suffering from
fever of any kind ever enters the dairy
Moreover, no one engaged in nursing
the sick should ever be allowed to go
near milk. Those who handle the milk
on such farms, even though they never
have been near the person who is sick,
should take special precautions. Before
entering the milk room they should put
on clean cap and clean duster,
which are never allowed to go into the
house. In cases of typhoid or suspect
ed typhoid all water used in cleansing
milk vessels should first be bciled. Fin
ally, even with all these precautions, J
wherever typhoid or scarlet fever is
even suspected in a family, the milk
should be thoroughly pastuerized before
being sold
The milk producer who takes these
precautions establishes his good citizen
ship. The one who handles milk care
lessly with sickness in his family is,
though he may not realize it, a possible
enemy to his customers.
Such precautions are doubly necessary
where the owner of the farm is the
sufferer, because the milk is apt to be
handled carelessly for lack of his super
vision. Inspectors recently following
up a case of bad milk found the owner
Of the farm sick with a bad case Of ty-
phOid fever. He gave his illness as a
reason for his not being prosecuted, be-
cause the low quality Of the milk was
due directly to its handling by inexperi-
anced persons. Investigation proved
that the farmers illness was one of a
succession of cases of typhoid that had
on this farm. The probability
was that the milk being sent
out before the farmer was sick was
dangerously contaminated, while, of
course, the risk after illness had with
lrawn his attention was vastly in
creased.
In many cases wher1 an outbreak Of
typhoid has been traced back to dairy
he owner was not deliberately careless.
typhoid fever is not always readily re-
as such, and not uncommonly
passes simply as fever or bowel COM
1laint. For this reason every case of
iever on a dairy farm should be re-
yarded with suspicion and lead to very
careful handling of the milk.
Members of households in which there
are contagious or suspicious illnesses
llso have an important part to play in
keeping the milk supply clean. They
should never return empty milk bottles
without first boiling them, and any
'amily which takes public milk bottle
nto a room where there is contagious
lisease is really party to serious Of
.ense against public health A milk
iealer who leans of a case of sickness
n family should keep the bottles from
hat house separated from the others
and make certain that they are very
'arefully sterilized before they are
lgain used for milk.
Even where there is no sickness on a
arm, the dairy farmer should use every
'ffort to produce high grade, clean
milk from healthy cows. Sterilization
# bottles and other milk vessels is es-
ential,
TILL 0-AssGsH