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Division of Animal Industry 



Honolulu, January 14, 1918. 



Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry, Honolulu. 



Gentlemen : I regret to report that a disease which may 

 prove to be glanders has made its appearance among the work 

 animals on a plantation in the Hamakua district on Hawaii. 

 The deputy Territorial veterinarian for the Kohala district, Dr. 

 Rowat, visited the place. Dr. Elliot being too sick to attend, 

 diagnosed the disease as glanders and destroyed two afifected 

 animals. Dr. Rowat had previously, during the early part of 

 1917, reported a few scattered cases of glanders in a pasture on 

 one of the Kohala plantations but with the destruction of these 

 it was hoped that the outbreak had been permanently checked. 

 The Hamakua cases, however, put a more serious aspect on the 

 situation as they would seem to indicate the existence of a center 

 of infection which must be located without delay. Though no 

 information to that effect has reached this office there is a possi- 

 bility that the disease may have recrudesced in Waipio Valley 

 and is now being scattered by pack animals over the neighboring 

 districts. It will be recalled that the last outbreak of glanders 

 in the Territory of any importance occurred in Waipio Valley 

 in 1912 when 34 head of horses were destroyed after many 

 other horses and at least 12 mules had died. Previous to that 

 outbreak a similar epidemic had occurred in the same place in 

 1907. In both cases it was fully believed that the disease had 

 been stamped out of the valley, as every horse, mule and donkey 

 had been carefully examined or mallein tested and all reactors 

 destroyed. In the 1912 outbreak the infected stables even were 

 totally destroyed, new ones built on virgin soil, and several sub- 

 sequent inspections failed to show any additional cases. At the 

 same time the plantations and ranches bordering upon the roads 

 leading from the mouth of Waipio Valley were warned to keep 

 a sharp lookout for suspicious animals among the pack trains 

 carrying rice and paiai from the valley to the merchants in the 

 neighborhood. 



It is now five years since the 1912 outbreak, or practically 

 the same period of immunity as followed the 1907 outbreak. 

 The only difference is that the 1912 outbreak remained confined 

 to the Valley and was reported by the manager of the Kukui- 

 haele plantation before it had spread to the neighborhood. 



On the basis of these facts it is recommended that a thorough 

 investigation be undertaken by this office in order that all centers 

 of infection may be located and eliminated. Glanders is the most 

 destructive disease of horse stock known to agricudture and com- 

 merce as well as to the mounted and artillery service of the 



