FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5333, 1 October 1928, Page 3

FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE.

AMENABLE TO TREATMENT. Replying to an inquiry by the Sharemilkers’ Association with reference to foot and mcuh disease, the Minister of. Agriculture wrote stat-' ing that the disease was quite amenable t 6 treatment, and nearly every animal affected recovered, but the trouble was in the case of milking, cows, as the milk yield for the remainder of the season, and in subsequent, seasons, was greatly decreased. The policy in Great Britain and the United States of America, when the disease occurred there s,ome yea, l ! 3 ago, wag to endeavour to stamp it out by the slaughter of all affected animals and all others which had beien fill contact with them. Up to the present time no, method of rendering animals immune from t'he diseases had been discovered. Thq disease had never occurred in New Zealand. With regard to the duty of a farmer if he noticed any suspicious symptom 1 : in any of his cattle, sheep, Qi pigs was to immediately isolate: them and communicate at oncje with the nearest stock inspector. SYMPTOMS. The symptoms of fopt. and mouth disease, are as follows :— The. disease commences with .fever —lo4deg tq 106 deg—more apparent in young ajnimals than old, accompanied by an accelerated pulse, diminished appetite, decrease in lactation, and. constipation. The temperature subsides with the appearance of vesicles. Then there is, im cattle, a characteristic sucking of. the lips and frequent swallowing, with 1 alter a smacking, of the lips. Saliva is at first frothy, and then becomes ropy and mixed with shreds of epihelium hanging from the mouth. Foot lesionis cause lameness through inflammation of the coronet. In cattlet mojuth lesions generally occur firgt, .followed, usually, by foot lesions-. In cows, udder lesions and lesions of vaginal mucOiUs membrane may also appear. In sheep, ajnd pigs, month lesions are niqjt so cpnstanlt, foot lesions being more importantOt,her regions affected are conjunctiva, trachea, and pharynx occasionally. The seats of mouth lesions are the tongue (body .a;nd tip) and the mucous membrane lining of the lips and denjtal pad. These legions are all vesicular in character, and! quite superficial and Shallow. The vesicles and ul’c,eration vary from the size of a pea to about one inch nn flia|meit.er. The vesicles burst in about one to three days, threads of epithelium remaining attached, for a while. Fin|ally a raw, shallow ulcer, is left, which becomes deep .only if a secondary ba.cterial invasion occ.urs., Healing is by simple ingrowth of epithelium, from thq sides of the ulceratonFoot lesions occur at the junction qf hajir and hoof, and. sometimes inside the hoof, especially in heel bulbs and interdigital spaces. They may cause sloughing, of thq hoof if secondary invasion by other bacteria, occurs, or even through cpiiifluence of several large vesicles destroying the coronary bands. Acute catarrhal gas tro-enteritis ■often occurs in young anjimals, proving fatal. A malignant type may occur. chiefly in old anjimals, where a form of intoxication develops, showing rigours, paralysis, intestinal haemorrhage, and finally •coma and death.