517 
pronounced the affection to be foot-and-mouth disease. A collection 
of the cases of transmission of this disease to man through the con- 
sumption of milk has been prepared by Wurzburg, while the work 
of Brussenius & Siegel contains a full bibliography of the literature 
of such transmission up to 1896. Similar cases of infection resulting 
from the use of butter made from infected milk are on record, while 
Schneider mentions instances where human infection followed the 
consumption of infected cheese. Similarly, Freidberger & Frohnei 
record cases which were caused by infected buttermilk. 
There have been but few outbreaks of the disease in the ’United 
States, and therefore recorded cases of its transmission to man in 
this country are quite rare. Law reports having observed the 
disease in man from drinking infected milk during the epizootic of 
1870 in the Eastern States, but the outbreaks of 1880 and 1881 affected 
such a small number of animals and was so quickly suppressed that 
no instance of its transmission to man was recorded. A few cases 
have been reported by Brush® accompanying the Xew England 
outbreak of 1902. Similar reports have likewise been received 
regarding the appearance of vesicular eruptions in the mouths of 
children during the 1908 outbreak, and the history of these cases 
incriminates the milk consumed. In both of these last outbreaks 
the sale of milk was stopped as soon as the disease was found among 
cattle, and therefore the opportunity for the infection of man was 
not so good as when the disease is more widespread, affecting prac- 
tically all the cattle of the country. In some instances, however, 
the people used the milk after pasteurization, thus avoiding the 
possibility of infection, or the milk was discarded after having been 
rendered harmless by the addition of formalin. 
Foot-and-mouth disease has only made its appearance in the 
United States on the above-mentioned occasions, having always been 
introduced from some foreign country. Its spread among cattle is 
very rapid, owing to the highly infectious character of the virus, 
but fortunately every outbreak upon American soil has thus far 
been quickly followed by its total suppression. 
The method of eradicating the outbreaks in 1902 and 1908 con- 
sisted in the rigid quarantine of all infected premises and the animals 
upon them, in slaughtering the diseased and exposed animals at the 
earliest practicable moment, and in thoroughly disinfecting the 
stables and the contents of the buildings in which they had been 
sheltered. In this manner the disease was confined in both out- 
breaks to but four States and was completely eradicated in a com- 
paratively short time in each instance. 
The causative agpnt of this disease has not been isolated, although 
numerous attempts have been made to cultivate and stain it. The 
® Journal of American Medical Association, vol. 40, p. 1700, June 20, 1903. 
