174 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



the intestinal tract. This virus is discharged with the body ex- 

 cretions. The infected feet contaminate the fodder, straw and 

 earth. People come along and get a little of that contaminated 

 earth on their shoes and carry it home to their well herds. We 

 cannot breathe in the disease from the atmosphere, and the only 

 way it can be carried by the air is by the wind blowing some- 

 thing to which the germs adhere. The germ corresponds to a 

 seed, and as a noxious weed is produced from the seed and is 

 carried from one place to another, so is the seed of foot and 

 mouth disease carried. Sometimes infected animals will not 

 transmit the disease to well animals on the opposite side of the 

 fence. If the well animal does not happen to get some of those 

 seeds from the sick animal, he will not get the disease. There 

 are only two ways of transmitting the disease, direct transmis- 

 sion and indirect transmission. 



Air. Sandford: Is the milk infectious? 



Dr. Houck: Yes, the milk is infectious, but I think most 

 of it is through contamination from the vesicles on the outside 

 of the teats and udder. I have seen cows where you would find 

 vesicles forming. They grow as big as a lima bean, coalesce, 

 so that at the end of a day or 36 hours, the teat would be one 

 large blister. Then they would break and water run out. The 

 skin would dry and could be pulled off, leaving the teats very 

 sore. Such badly diseased teats soon grow shut and garget fol- 

 lows. 



Mr. Nelson, Peoria : Has your department learned it was 

 a fact that the Chicago Serum Company sent out serum after it 

 was discovered it was infected? 



Dr. Houck : It was not the serum that caused this trouble. 

 It was the virus that they sent out with the serum. There is 

 little possibility of serum becoming contaminated with foot and 

 mouth disease. The lesions of foot and mouth disease in the 

 virus pigs purchased in the Yards were no doubt obscured by the 

 cholera lesions. The lameness was no doubt attributed to chol- 



