CHAPTER IV 

 ANTHRAX 



BACILLUS ANTHRACIS (KOCH) 



General Characteristics. A non-motile, non-flagellated, sporogenpus, liquefy- 

 g, non-chromogenic, pathogenic, aerobic bacillus staining by the ordinary 



methods and by Gram's method. 



The disease of herbivora known as anthrax, " splenic fever," 

 "Milzbrand" and "charbon" is a dreaded and common malady in 

 France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Persia, and the East Indian 

 countries. In Siberia the disease is so common and malignant as to 



Fig. 127. Bacillus anthracis; colony three days old upon a gelatin plate 

 adhesive preparation. X 1000 (Frankel and Pfeiffer). 



deserve its popular name, " Siberian pest." Certain districts, as th< 

 Tyrol and Auvergne, in which it seems to be endemic, serve as foe 

 from which the disease spreads in summer, afflicting many animals 

 and ceasing its depredations only with the advent of winter. It i 

 not rare in the United States, where it seems to be chiefly a diseas 

 of the summer season. 



Herbivorous animals are most frequently affected, especiall; 

 cows and sheep. Carnivorous animals are less often affected 

 though not immune. Among laboratory animals, white mice, house 

 mice, guinea-pigs, and rabbits are highly susceptible; rats, scarcel; 



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