CHAPTER XVIII. 



CONTAGIOUS DISEASES— continued. 

 ECZEMA CONTAGIOSA. 



Synonyms. — Eczema epizootica ; epizootic aphtha ; aphthous 

 fever ; foot-and-mouth disease ; murrain ; epidemic. 



Definition. — A highly contagious and infectious febrile disease, 

 associated with a vesicular eruption in the mouth, between the 

 pedal digits, and around the coronets. In some cases the mouth 

 only is affected, in others the feet may be the seat of the erup- 

 tion, the membrane of the mouth remaining free. In milch cows 

 it sometimes happens that a vesicular eruption occurs on the 

 mammary gland, and within the lactiferous ducts : when such 

 occurs, the milk, contaminated by the vesicular discharge, is 

 rendered unfit for use, either as food for the human being or for 

 the lower animals, as it may induce a vesicular eruption in the 

 mouth, larynx, pharynx, and intestinal canal, 



PATHOLOGY AND SYMPTOMS. 



Unlike rinderpest and pleuro-pneumonia, which are almost 

 confined to the ruminantia, contagious eczema affects cattle, 

 sheep, pigs, dogs, poultry, and even human beings are subject to 

 the influence of its virus. It is amongst horned cattle that we 

 find the ravages of this disease to be most extensive, they 

 seemingly being most susceptible to the influence of the con- 

 tagious poison ; sheep and goats, however, suffer very severely, 

 and dogs, pigs, and poultry often die from it. 



After a period of incubation, varying from twenty-four hours 

 to three or four days, the invasion and progress of the disease are 

 characterised by an elevation of temperature of from two to four 



