10 



AX ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE ILLINOIS GEN- 

 ERAL ASSEMBLY, JANTAKY L9, 1915, BY PRO- 

 FESSOR V. A. MOORE, DEAN OF THE VETEK- 

 [NARY DEPARTMENT, CORNELL UNI- 

 VERSITY, ITHACA, NEW YORK. ON 

 FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. 



Mr. Chairman: When I was invited to be here today, it was 

 my understanding that I was to appear before a committee and 

 be questioned rather than to make an address to a body of this 

 kind. However, on consultation with the Governor and the State 

 Veterinarian, it seems to be their wish that I make a statement 

 to you concerning the Foot and Mouth Disease. 



Foot and Mouth Disease, while new to the people in the mid- 

 dle and farther western section of this country, is not new to the 

 veterinary profession. It is supposed to have had its origin in the 

 Orient and to have gradually traveled westward until by the mid- 

 die of the eighteenth century it had spread over the entire con- 

 tient of Europe and to the British Isles. Since that time great 

 effort has been made on the part of the European governments 

 to eradicate it from their countries. It has. on five previous occa- 

 sions, made its way to this country. These occurrences were in 

 ISO. between L880 and 1883, 1884, 1902, 1908, and 1914, 



Foot and Mouth Disease is perhaps the most easily spread in- 

 fectious and communicable disease of domesticated animals. It at- 

 tacks chiefly ruminating animals and pigs, although other species 

 are not entirely exempt from it. It is caused by some specific 

 agent, the exact nature of which we do not know. It will pass 

 through a Berkfell filter and for that reason its cause is known 

 as a filterable virus. It is an eruptive fibre and belongs to the 

 class of exant heinatoiis diseases akin to smallpox, measles, scarlet 



fever, and the like. It begins with a rise in temperature, which 



after one <>r two days is followed by the eruption of vesicles on 



the lips. gums, inside of the cheeks, and tongue: in cows on the 



teats and on the inter-digital spaces; in swine it frequently does 

 not attack the mouth. In a few days these vesicles break, leaving 

 a raw and usually deeply reddened surface. After the vesicles 

 ha\c broken the characteristic of the disease has disappeared and 

 its diagnosis becomes more difficult. [Jnlike other infectious dis 



