FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE. 427 



The vesicles appear on the lips, gums, cheek, and edge 

 of the tongue, and are about the size of a pea. The 

 vesicles soon rupture, leaving a small erosion which is 

 soon covered by a thin crust under which the new forma- 

 tion of epithelium proceeds rapidly. The skin eruption 

 mostly appears on the hands, tips of the fingers, base of 

 the nails, and more seldom on the toes and other parts 

 of the body. Besides these local changes, during the 

 course of the disease there are occasionally observed 

 headache, pain in the limbs, vertigo, abdominal cramps, 

 vomiting, diarrhea, and weakness. The disease is 

 very seldom fatal, usually appearing in a very mild 

 form except in weakened children, in whom an accom- 

 panying intestinal catarrh may lead to a fatal termina- 

 tion. 



Veterinarians who have had considerable experience 

 with the disease among animals regard the human affec- 

 tion as by no means uncommon in countries where foot- 

 and-mouth disease prevails, but the disturbance of 

 health is usually too slight to come to the notice of the 

 family physician. 



But few outbreaks of the disease have occurred in the 

 United States, and therefore cases of its transmission to 

 man in this country are quite rare. Dr. James Law 

 reports having observed the disease in man from drink- 

 ing infected milk during the epizootic of 1870 in the 

 Eastern States; but the outbreaks of 1880 and 1884 

 affected such a small number of animals and were so 

 quickly suppressed that no instance of its transmission 

 to man was recorded. A few cases have been reported 

 by Brush accompanying the New England outbreak of 

 1902. Similar reports have been likewise received con- 

 cerning the appearance of vesicular eruptions in the 

 mouths of children during the 1908 and 1914 outbreaks, 



