554 DISEASES OF THE HOKSE. 



Bleeding from the nose, sudden swelling of one of the hind legs, 

 and the swelling of the testicles are liable to precede an acute eruption 

 of glanders. As the symptoms become more marked the animal has 

 difficulty of respiration, the flanks heave, the respiration becomes 

 rapid, the pulse becomes quickened, and the temperature becomes 

 elevated to 103°, 104°, or 105° F. 



With the other symptoms of an acute fever the general appearance 

 and station of the animal is that of one suffering from an acute pneu- 

 monia, but upon examination, w^hile we may find sibilant and mucous 

 rales over the side of the chest, and may possibly hear tuljular mur- 

 murs at the base of the neck over the trachea, we fail to find the tubu- 

 lar murmur or the large area of dullness on percussion over the sides 

 of the chest which belongs to simple pneumonia. 



Diagnosis. — When there is doubt as to the diagnosis, the mallein 

 test, the inoculation test, or the complement-fixation test may be em- 

 ployed. The mallein test is made by injecting mallein (a sterilized 

 extract from a culture of glanders bacilli) beneath the skin. If the 

 horse has glanders there results a febrile reaction and a swelling at 

 the point of injection. If the horse does not have glanders the mal- 

 lein has no effect or, at most, it produces a slight swelling only at the 

 point of injection. The inoculation test consists in the inoculation of 

 a susceptible animal (usually a guinea pig) with some of the sus- 

 pected discharge from the nose or a farcy ulcer. If the material is 

 properly used, and if it contains bacilli of glanders, the experimental 

 animal will develop the disease. 



The eye test is now universally accepted as a very satisfactory 

 means of diagnosing glanders. This consists in dropping into an ej^e 

 of a suspected animal a specially prepared solution of mallein, as a 

 lesult of w^hich in an infected animal the inflammation develops in 

 the eye, resulting in a discharge which varies in intensity from a 

 mucopurulent character to a thick, sticky pus. The eyelids may also 

 swell and many times become glued together. The reaction usually 

 appears in from 8 to 20 hours after the introduction of the mallein. 



Neither of these tests should be put into use except by a competent 

 veterinarian. The complement-fixation test is a highly specialized 

 laboratory test and can be carried out only by one versed in labora- 

 tory technique. (See Bureau of Animal Industry Bulletin 13G.) 



The post-mortem examination of the lungs shows that the pneu- 

 monia of glanders is a lobular, V-shaped pneumonia scattered 

 throughout the lungs and caused by the specific inflammatory process 

 taking place at the divergence of the smaller air tubes of the lungs. 

 In some cases of acute glanders the formation of nodules may so irri- 

 tate the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract and cause such a 

 profuse discharge of mucopurulent or purulent matter that the spe- 

 cific character of the original discharge is entirelv masked. In this 



