Commissioner of Agriculture 295 



of human beings. The danger of the importation from abroad 

 of cowpox virus or other alleged immunizing or curative biological 

 product contaminated with the infection of foot and mouth dis- 

 ease would still remain, and such danger must be provided, 

 against. 



The dangers to man in a country already infected are much 

 more varied and equally varied must be the precautions: 



1. Those occupied about infected cattle should avoid contact 

 of the virulent discharges, especially those from the mouth, teats 

 or feet, with any mucous surface, as that of the mouth, nose or 

 eyes. 



2. The hands, face and other exposed parts of the skin must 

 be free from chaps, cracks, scratches, pricks, abrasions or other 

 lesion through which the virus may enter. Any part the seat of 

 the smallest lesion through which infection might enter should 

 be thoroughly disinfected before and after handling the animal or 

 its products, by thorough washing with carbolic acid solution, 

 3 to 5 per cent. ; a cresol solution, 2 per cent. ; a mercuric chloride 

 solution, 0.1 per cent.; or some other available disinfectant. Or, 

 any wound in the skin may be touched with a 2 per cent, solution 

 of lunar caustic which not only serves as one of the most efficient 

 antiseptics, but unites with the albumin on the surface of the sore 

 to form a firm covering film which is at once disinfectant and 

 nonabsorbent. Or, again, the infected animals and their products 

 may be handled with a pair of rubber gloves in such a manner that 

 the skin will be absolutely protected, and when taken off the 

 gloves may be washed in the mercuric chloride solution. 



3. All milk and other products of the dairy must be withheld 

 from human consumption until they have been heated to steriliza- 

 tion. If milk has not been sterilized before leaving the hands 

 of the dairyman the consumer should see that it is raised to the 

 boiling point before it is used. During an epizootic of aphthous 

 fever this is a safe resort in all cases, as the user of the milk has 

 seldom any means of ascertaining the condition of the herd, and 

 the milk may become virulent before the owner of (he cows has 

 any suspicion that they are attacked with this malady. Even 

 butter and cheese produced during an epizootic may have got on 

 ihe market without any moral obliquity of the dairyman, and 



