88 BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS AND OTHER CATTLE DISEASES. 



Foot and mouth disease. This highly contagious disease of 

 cattle is transmissible to man through the milk (24). The 

 symptoms in cattle consist of eruption of vesicles in the mouth, 

 around the coronet, between the toes and on the udder, accom- 

 panied by a rise of temperature. The mortality is not high, 

 but great losses are incurred by the diminution of the milk flow 

 due to the fever and to the starvation caused by the mouth 

 lesions. Mycotic stomatitis, which occurs occasionally on the 

 Pacific coast and elsewhere, is liable to be confused with foot 

 and mouth disease (18). This last mentioned disease is com- 

 mon in Europe but is not permanently implanted in the United 

 States. It has been introduced several times and successfully 

 eradicated. At the time of writing, the existence of the dis- 

 ease has been discovered in certain areas of Pennsylvania, Mich- 

 igan and New York. 



Milk-sickness. In the early days of the settlement of the 

 central portion of the United States, cases of illness attributed 

 to consuming milk of diseased cattle were not uncommon (16). 

 The symptoms in cattle and in man are quite definite. Fifty 

 years ago the disease had a distinct standing in medicine but 

 of late years it has been all but forgotten, due to its present 

 rarity. Jordan and Harris (ll) have recently discovered a 

 focus of infection in the valley of the Pecos River, N. M., 

 which gave them opportunity to study cases in both cattle and 

 man. In man the symptoms, among others, included vomiting, 

 constipation, and great prostration. They noted the sweetish 

 odor of the breath described in the old literature. Affected 

 cattle in the early stages appeared weak and exhibited a shuf- 

 fling gait, accelerated breathing, and sometimes trembled and 

 fell. In advanced stages the animal lay with the head to one 

 side as in milk fever, but continued to tremble. Post-mortem 

 examination with bacteriological examination did not result in 

 the identification of any of the well-known cattle diseases. An 

 organism called by them B. lactinwrbi was regarded as the 

 cause of the disease. 



