Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-04-18
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outbreak, cause and nature of the late
disease among cattle, has made his off,
cial report. He recites that the dis
eased animals which he visited in Kan
sas and also in Adair cotinty, Mo-, were
stock cattle in medium or somewhat
thin condition, and of all ages some
of the herds were IN better than an av-
erage condition, and had been well car.
ed for {; they were without shelter, but
in feed lots unusually dry. The idea
that their feet became sots frotn mud
settling between the toes or from slkan
in the soil, is not credited for moment
as there was not enough of either, and
cleaning the feet made no practical diff
ference.
There Having been In the history Of
America no case of a spontaneous out
break of foot and mouth disease, and it
being accepted as fact that 1t cannot
occur here except from virus introduced
from abroad, and further, as he was uii-
able to find any means by which for!
eign contagion had been introduced, he
is sanghine the western troubles have
been something wholly different, and
not CONTIGUOUS. He cites that the peri
Qd which elapses between exposure to
the virus and the appearance of the first
symptoms of the disease is, as rule;
two or three days. A very large pro-
portion of the exposed animals become
diseased, and the plague rapidly spteads
from farm to farm. As result of these
characteristics, within week after the
introduction of foot and mouth disease
into heard nearly every animal in the
herd shows tinihistakable evidence of
having contracted it. 4 very small pro-
portion of the animals may resist the
contagion, but the proportion is much
less than with most other contagious
diseases, and is so small that it does not
affect the rule.
DR.. Salmon discusses the entire sub
ject with good deal of thoroughness,
and as the substance Of his knowledge
and conclusions says
1.-The symptoms of foot and mouth
disease are constitutional and local,
The constitutional symptoms are loss Of
appetite, elevation of temperature and
other signs common to fevers. The To-
cal symptoms consist in all eruption of
blisters in the mouth, between the toes,
| about the coronet and on the udder and
teats. In the foot and mouth disease
there is usually very marked increase
of temperature reaching from 104 to LOT
degrees. AT Neosho Falls the tempera-
ture, as a rule, did not exceed what
might reasonably be expected in health.
In the foot and mouth disease there is
loss of appetite and difficulty of swal-
lowing, but here the universal testimo-
ny was that the appetite had remained
good throughout and there, was no
trouble in mastication or swallowing.
In the foot and mouth disease there
is an eruption of blisters on the mucous
membrane of the lips, gums, tongue
and palate, which are numerous and
| painful. It is almost impossible for an
imals in this condition to eat hay or
other dry food, and it is necessary to
support them with Cruel. Such animals
stand smacking the lips, grinding the
teeth and slobbering profusely. In
Kansas the mouth symptoms were
much less intense than this some Of
the mouths presented erosions which
were mostly small and very superficial.
In Missouri some of the cattle had the
mouths involved to a greater degree
than any saw in Kansas, but others
with equally bad feet had perfectly
sound mouths. Here I saw pieces of
the mucous membrane becoming de-
tached, but no blisters.
The interdigital spaces and the coro-
net are the seat Of eruption in foot and
mouth disease not only is there red
ness, heat and swelling on these parts,
but there is formation Of blisters, and
a liquid secretion from the whole affect
ed surface Of the skin. Sometimes abb
scesses form beneath the horn, from
which the pus may borrow and cause
the loss of the hoofs; or even affect the
ligaments and joints but severe COM
plications in the region of the foot do
not occur, except from this cause. With
the cattle which l visited the feet pre-
sented very different appearance. The
complete Death of the foot to the fetlock,
or e7eh higher, as occurred iii all the
worst cases in the west, is altogether
unheard Of in the foot and mouth dis
ease. In only one Gaze that have heard
of in the west was there any appearance
of All eruption of the udder of the affect
ed cow. An eruption of blsters on the
udder is an extremely common occur
renee in the foot and mouth disease.
The disease Which investigated had
few if any characteristics in common
with the foot and mouth disease.
Among the whole number there was not
single animal which presented the
typical characteristics of this plague.
There did not even appear to be single
animal which represented even typical
mouth symptoms or the typical feet
symptoms of that disease. There is but
one catise known to the veterinary SCI
enee which is capable Of producing the
condition of limbs which we. saw in
many of the diseased animals of Kansas
and Missouri, and that cause is ergot.
The peculiarities of the disease led me
to examine the feed to learn if any unii.
sual quantity of ergot could be found
The result of this examination was to
show that at every one of the farmf
! where the diseased cattle were located
! hay had been fed which contained a CON
siderable proportion Of wild rye ergotiz
ed to All extreme degree. 1t is very
probable that the cold weather had q
|, considerable to influence in developing
) the effects of the ergot. Many casei
, occurred soon after a severe storm o.