680 DISEASES CAUSED BY FILTRABLE VIRUS 



has been transmitted by the flea or the bedbug. The disease is, there- 

 fore, one particularly likely to accompany filthy conditions of living, 

 and war, and famine. The louse, when obtaining access to the human 

 body, lives largely in the underclothing, especially along the seams, 

 the belt, and other small shelters, feeding two or three times a day. 

 The sanitation of typhus is, therefore, largely a campaign against lice, 

 which would consist in attention to bedding, sterilization of clothing, 

 and bathing. Since the louse is very susceptible to heat, autoclave or 

 steam sterilization is best for materials that can stand it, clothing, 

 etc.; sulphur properly applied to barracks, stables, etc., is very efficient; 

 kerosene or gasolene as a spray for the hair and beard is excellent as a 

 louse-killing agent; and, for rapid louse-killing in underclothing, it has 

 been found very useful to drop the clothing into a clothes box or bag, 

 with about an ounce of chloroform, for several hours. 



Most authorities believe that typhus fever is transmitted only by 

 vermin. However, during the recent epidemic in Serbia, it was the 

 opinion of some physicians that at the height of the disease, the sputum 

 could convey it by infection. This is very uncertain. By the work of 

 Nicolle and his associates, and of Ricketts and Wilder, 1 also of Ander- 

 son and Goldberger, 2 it has been shown that the virus can be trans- 

 mitted from human being to human being by the bites of the body 

 louse (pediculus vestimenti) ; the flea and the bedbug apparently do not 

 transmit the disease. The head louse (pediculus capitis) may possibly 

 transmit it. 



FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE 



This malady occurs chiefly in cattle, sheep, and goats, more rarely 

 in other domestic animals. It is characterized by the appearance of a 

 vesicular eruption localized upon the mucosa of the mouth and upon the 

 delicate skin between the hoofs. In the females similar eruptions may 

 appear upon the udders. With the onset of the eruption there may be 

 increased temperature, refusal of food, and general depression. Usually 

 the disease is mild; the vesicles become small ulcers and pustules. Oc- 

 casionally the disease is complicated by catarrhal gastroenteritis or an 

 inflammation of the respiratory tract, and death may ensue. 



The disease is transmitted from animal to animal by means of virus 

 contained in the vesicular contents. Infection may also take place 

 through the agency of milk. It has been claimed, moreover, though 



1 Wilder, Jour. Inf. Dis., July, 1911, p. 9. 2 Goldberger and Anderson, Pub. 

 Health Report, Wash., March, 1912; ibid., May 31, 1912. 



