DIAGNOSIS 249 



rhagic septicemia, etc., and for this reason, microscopic and laboratory 

 examinations are necessary for a trustworthy diagnosis. This is 

 particularly necessary in the case of a fresh outbreak or when 

 the disease appears in a district which has previously been free from 

 anthrax. Sufficient evidence for a trustworthy diagnosis can often 

 be obtained from a microscopic examination of the blood, particularly 

 in the last stages of the disease while the animal is still alive or within 

 a few hours after death, before the body has been opened. In the 

 former case blood may be obtained from the ear by a slight cutaneous 

 incision. When a postmortem examination is made it is best to take 

 the blood from the spleen. Blood obtained in'this way from the small 

 peripheral vessels or the spleen may show the non-motile, sporeless, 

 cylindrical, square-ended, capsule-possessing bacilli in short chains. 

 When putrefaction sets in, putrefactive bacteria which closely resemble 

 the anthrax bacillus appear in the cadavers of cattle and sheep. 

 Under unfavorable conditions, cultures must therefore be prepared 

 or animal experiments made. When there is access to neither a 

 microscope nor laboratory facilities in cases of suspected anthrax in 

 cattle and sheep, the material should be prepared for subsequent 

 examination in a laboratory in the following manner: 



1. Prepare a few microscopic slides by spreading some blood from 

 the animal on them in thin layers. 



2. Clean a wide-mouthed bottle by washing it with an antiseptic 

 solution and then with alcohol. Invert the bottle and allow it to dry. 

 Place in it a portion of spleen, or if the cadaver has not been opened, 

 a portion of the ear, and close the bottle tightly with a cork, the inner 

 end of which has been sterilized by burning. 



3. Take a potato, clear it of earth, wash and scrub it externally 

 with a 1 to 1000 solution of corrosive sublimate. Boil it well in water 

 in any suitable covered vessel. After the water has cooled, take out 

 the potato, dry it externally with a clean cloth. Cut it into halves with 

 a knife previously heated over a flame. In this manner a perfectly 

 sterile potato is obtained. Allow some blood to flow on one of the 

 flat surfaces, place the halves again face to face, and wrap up the 

 potato, if possible, in clean aseptic gauze. Place the potato in a suitable 

 container (glass vessel, clean tin cup, empty gauze box, etc.). 



4. Send the blood slides, piece of spleen, and inoculated potato to 

 the laboratory by the quickest possible route without loss of time. 



The trained bacteriologist is immediately able to stain and micro- 

 scopically examine the blood slides. He can soon examine the culture 

 on the potato and from it and the piece of spleen inoculate mice and 

 guinea-pigs. These animals are very susceptible, and will show, in 

 one or two days, a typical anthrax infection if the material actually 

 contained anthrax bacilli. The inoculation of the suspected material 

 is made subcutaneously from an emulsion, or a piece is introduced 

 into a small subcutaneous pocket, made with a slender scalpel or a 

 pair of small scissors. Mice and guinea-pigs infected in this manner 



