Dairy Infection with Streptococcus Epidemicus

A streptococcus epidemic of moderate extent and severity was characterized by clinical symptoms different from the usual septic sore throat, though the organism found was culturally Streptococcus epidemicus. The infection was traced to the milk from a single quarter of the udder of a cow in a dairy of 112 cows producing an otherwise excellent grade of raw milk. A number of the milkers on the dairy farm were found infected. It was impossible to trace the infection of the cow's udder to any one of the milkers, though such an infection seems probable since the streptococcus isolated from the cow was in every respect like streptococci isolated from patients and milkers, and different from those usually found in normal cows or cows with garget. Certain recommendations are made to safeguard producers of raw milk against the occurrence of such epidemics.