No. 4.] REPORT OF CATTLE BUREAU. 335 



in a few days lose all the flesh that it has taken them months 

 to put on. 



Neat cattle have the severest lesions in the mouth, as a 

 rule, and have great difficulty in eating, although lameness 

 may also be present ; while among sheep the foot lesions 

 are usually the more severe, and they will not walk about 

 in search of food, but spend most of their time lying down. 



The period of development from the time of exposure is 

 short, usually from three to eight days ; but it ma}' not 

 appear in rare instances, it is said, for from two to three 

 weeks after exposure. 



When there are no complications, such as sloughing of 

 the feet as seen in very severe cases, the disease in cattle, 

 sheep and swine runs a course of from ten to twenty days. 



In other animals the symptoms are somewhat the same, 

 viz., vesicles followed by ulcerations either on the feet or in 

 the mouth ; but other domestic animals do not seem to be 

 very susceptible. The horse shows lesions in the mouth, 

 but only as a result of licking infected cattle or drinking or 

 eating from buckets or troughs which diseased creatures 

 have used. Dogs, cats and rabbits may have the disease, 

 but it is said to be infrequent, and, in the dog and cat, is 

 the result of their being kept in the stable with infected 

 ruminants or swine, or of their drinking milk from cows 

 with udder lesions. 



Foot and mouth disease may occur in the human family. 

 Among adults attendants of cattle, veterinary surgeons, 

 butchers and drovers are most exposed. It may be acquired 

 from diseased animals, and occasionally it is possible for one 

 person to infect another. Among infants it may be caused 

 by drinking uncooked milk from cows having the vesicles 

 of epizootic aphtha on the udder ; it is also said that fresh 

 butter, fresh cheese and whey can convey the germs of the 

 disease. 



The period of incubation is quite short, especially when 

 conveyed by milk, in which case it is only from twelve to 

 twenty-four hours before symptoms appear. 



In infants the disease is not infrequently fatal. The symp- 

 toms consist of fever, headache or dizziness, conjunctivitis, 



