ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 519 



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GLANDERS. 



Glanders is one of the most dangerous diseases of the horse, as 

 well as one of the oldest. Ancient history deals with its ravages 

 and general characteristics. In the middle ages it was recognized, 

 and horses afflicted with the disease were considered unsound. The 

 knowledge of the disease presents the Usual steps of development. 

 While the disease was recognized and known in a. general way for 

 centuries, it was not until 1882 that its real nature was discovered. 

 In that year two German bacteriologists, Loeffler and Schuetz, dis- 

 covered the microbe, called bacilli Mallei, which all now recognize 

 as the cause of glanders. 



A tiny rod-shaped bacterium from one to three twenty-five hun- 

 dredths of an inch in length is the cause of the disease. These 

 rods which are straight with rounded ends or slightly curved, are 

 often found lying in couples side by side. They are easily stained 

 by methylene blue, fuchsine or gentian violet and other dyes. The 

 microbe grows most luxuriently on the blood serum of horses and 

 sheep, or beef broth and sliced potato, though it grows readily on 

 all the ordinary media. It does not multiply in the filth of stables, 

 though experiment has shown that it will remain alive and active 

 in such places for three or four months. It is killed in a week 

 by drying, but will live in putrefying material for two or three 

 weeks. It retains its vigor in water for two or three weeks. Author- 

 ities differ as to whether or not the microbe forms spores. Those 

 who deny it this attribute, hold that the resisting power to germ- 

 icide, which the microbe possesses, would be far greater were 

 it spore-forming. A one to one-thousandth solution of corrosive 

 sublimate will kill the microbe, as will a five per cent solution t of 

 either crealin or carbolic acid. 



Individual horses are not equally susceptible to the viris of glan- 

 ders. Like tuberculosis, glanders has certain pre-disposing factors, 

 among them may be mentioned over-exertion, too little food, poor 

 ventilation, chill and disease. 



The transmission of glanders may take place directly, or indi- 

 rectly by means of harness, clothing, pails, stable tools, fodder, litter, 

 grooms, etc. The bacilli of glanders cannot multiply outside the 

 body. In nine-tenths of all cases, the lungs are the gateway of the 

 disease, probably reaching the nasal membranes by being inhaled 

 with the air in form of dust; by reciprocal smelling of other 

 animals, or by deep respiratory movements. The presence of 



