Tuberculosis in Dairy Cows
By Editor
The Koch test (tuberculin) of tuberculosis proved that eight cows out of eleven of the herd at the Insane Asylum at Stockton, in this State, were afflicted with the dread disease which destroys one-seventh of all who die. Two of the cows, apparently in good health, were killed May 26. Says the Examiner: "They were of improved stock, and yielding large quantities of milk. The only sign of disease was the rise of temperature under Koch's test. Yet, when they were killed, they were found to be so far gone in tuberculosis that they were a dangerous source of infection. The fact that eight out of eleven cows of this fine herd are afflicted with an infectious disease of such terrible power must cause anxiety with regard to the dairy supplies throughout the State. The fearful prevalence of consumption, the disease that is responsible for one-fifth to one-seventh of the deaths in California, is doubtless due, in part, to the affected condition in the dairy herds." Certainly this condition of things demands that immediate and thorough methods be employed by our State, county, and municipal boards of health to see that our milk supply is pure. In fact, all milk ought to be sterilized.