VETERINARY MEDICINE. 779 



may nut be fatal in lonun unities wliere corn silape. roots, and other soft twds 

 can be fed. this is not true in tlie western States wliere cattle subsist on dry, 

 hard feed throuf;;h the winter. The author states that more than 30 of some 

 IKK) infected cattle died of the disease in the stockyards at Glendive, Mont., dur- 

 ing the tirst 30 days' prosiress of the disease in November. In sheep and hogs, 

 of which more than 200 of the former and about 30 of the latter were infected 

 at Glendive, tlie disease was imich more severe than in cattle. 



A study of the specific reactions for the diagnosis of glanders, V. A. Moore 

 and C. P. Fitch (Rpi. X. Y. State Vet. Vol.. 191t-12. pp. .7/-6".0).— Because of 

 the discrepancy sometimes observed in the diagnostic tests it seemed necessary 

 to make a careful investigation of the different methods and to determine so 

 far as ])ossible their relative value. The work was carried on with the coonera- 

 tion of the New York State Department of Agriculture. 



The discrepancies which are reported from different laboratories with the 

 agglutination test for glanders are believed to be usually due to the test fluid 

 used in one or the other laboratory. Thus it is that cultures isolated from dif- 

 ferent sources show a marked difference in their agglutinating properties, and, 

 furthennore, some cultures that agglutinate satisfactorily later lose their 

 agglutinating properties. There are also cultures of Bacillus mnllei which will 

 agglutinate with the serum from healthy horses. No advantage could be noted 

 in using a test tiuid ]ire]*>"ii'c<l from several strains of B. mallei. 



" The discrepancies which occur between the results of the sera and mallein 

 tests can often be explained on the ground that the sera were taken from horses 

 previously tested with mallein or treated with vaccine. Miessner [E. S. R., 20, 

 p. 385] calls particular attention to the fact that when the agglutination test 

 is used in the control of glanders the use of mallein should be prohibited. Our 

 experience shows that the indiscriminate use of vaccines has an equally dele- 

 terious effect upon the accuracy of the sera tests." 



In all probability different tests depend upon the presence of different specific 

 antibodies or products given off by the tissues as the result of the stimulation 

 of the tis.sues by the glanders organism. The bodies upon which the serum reac- 

 tions depend do not appear to occur in the blood at the same time. 



The complement fixation test " does not possess, because of the greater chance 

 for error owing to its complications, any advantage over the agglutination test 

 in diagnosing occult glanders." The ophthalmic mallein test has a definite 

 value in the diagnosis of occult glanders and it can be used at times when the 

 subcutaneous method is precluded. The subcutaneous method under suitable 

 conditions is quite as accurate as the ophthalmic mallein test. 



"As with the sera test, mallein can not be relied upon in the diagno.sis of 

 glanders in animals that have previously been injected with vaccine. In prac- 

 tice the use of mallein has this advantage, that it is a field method and the 

 conditions governing the test and the interpretation of the reaction are left to 

 the practitioner who is familiar with the case. Further, the elements of error 

 are in proiwrtion to the complications of the method. In confirmation of the 

 results of positive reactions by means of jwst-mortem examinations it is very 

 important not to mistake lesions caused by parasites for those of glanders. Olt 

 has pointed out that parasitic lesions often occur in the lungs and liver which 

 are easily mistaken for glanders nodules. The diagnosis can be made from a 

 microscopic examination of the properl.v stained sections. In case of lesions 

 due to parasites there is a varying degree of eosinophilia which is absent in 

 glanders. In our experience we have found lesions of a parasitic nature in the 

 lungs, liver, spleen, and lymphatic glands that resembled glanders macro- 

 scopically and which in several cases were supposed to be true glanders 

 lesions." 



