88 MILK HYGIENE 



Just how often the milk of the affected cows is viru- 

 lent, is not known. Apparently, this is frequently the 

 case, and certainly it is when the milk shows the changes 

 mentioned. The virus may, moreover, enter the milk as 

 it is being drawn, if vesicles occur on the teats or udder. 

 The quantity of milk decreases noticeably during the 

 course of the disease and it seldom reaches its original 

 flow after recovery. 



This disease is very easily communicated by the milk 

 to other cattle, to swine and, as is known, to man. Chil- 

 dren are especially susceptible. Brussenius and Siegel 

 have collected a large number of the cases mentioned in 

 the literature of foot-and-mouth disease in man. Dur- 

 ing the years from 1878 to 1886, 16 different epidemics 

 of the disease in man were observed. Not only were all 

 the members of single families attacked, but also numer- 

 ous inhabitants of whole villages and towns. During 

 one epidemic, 36 died ; during another, 23 and during a 

 third, 16. All the epidemics occurred simultaneously 

 with foot-and-mouth disease of cattle in the affected 

 districts and, almost without exception, the infection 

 came from the use of raw milk. From 1886 to 1896, 172 

 cases in man were reported in the annual reports of the 

 German Imperial Health Office, 66 of which were traced 

 to infection through milk, while one case occurred from 

 the use of butter made from the milk of an infected cow. 



The course of the disease in man may be light or 

 severe and, as said, the disease may end in death. The 

 symptoms are : fever and weakness, conjunctivitis, for- 

 mation of vesicles on the mucous membrane of the 

 mouth, the lips, the ears, the nose, fingers or, less fre- 

 quently, on other places on the body; besides, nausea, 

 vomiting, diarrhoea ; sometimes redness of the skin and 

 arthralgia. It is transmissible from man to man. 



The virus of foot-and-mouth disease may occur even 



