PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 267 



GLANDERS. 



Glanders or farcy is an infectious disease due to a specific micro- 

 organism, the ttacillits mallei. Pure cultures of the bacillus were 

 first grown in 1882 by Loffler and Schiitz and the etiological import- 

 ance of the bacillus recognised by the former in 1886. It is 

 essentially a disease of equines, and its existence is maintained by 

 propagation in this species. Man is susceptible. The other 

 domesticated animals, with the exception of dogs and cats, 

 are immune, though dogs (especially old dogs) are somewhat resist- 

 ant. In the horse the disease is as a rule of a chronic type; in 

 the ass and mule it is generally much more acute. 



The disease has occurred in Great Britain from early times, 

 but considerable fluctuations have been observed in its yearly incid- 

 ence as will be seen from the following figures : 



Year. Outbreaks. Horses attacked. 



1874 522 636 



1879 936 1367 



1881 1012 1720 



1886 776 1114 



1892 1657 3001 



1898 748 1385 



1904 1529 2658 



The large rises in 1881 and 1892 were probably due to the fact 

 that epidemics of influenza were rife at those times (Hunting). 



Though cases of glanders may be observed anywhere, outbreaks 

 usually occur in cities and coal mines. In the country districts it 

 is very rarely seen. In the United Kingdom it is practically absent 

 from Ireland and Wales, and is rare in Scotland. The following 

 table compiled from the annual reports of the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries and from the reports of the Department of Agri- 

 culture and Technical Instruction for Ireland show its distribution 

 and yearly incidence : 



1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 



In 1916 there were 1066 outbreaks in Great Britain and 8 in 



