CHAPTER III. 



GLANDERS. 



GLANDERS is an infectious mycotic disease which, very 

 fortunately, is almost confined to the lower animals. Only 

 occasionally does it secure a victim from hostlers, drovers, 

 soldiers, and bacteriologists, whose frequent association 

 with and experimentation upon animals bring them in 

 frequent contact with those which are diseased. Of all 

 the infectious diseases studied by scientists, none has 

 caused the havoc which glanders has wrought. Several 

 men of prominence have succumbed to accidental in- 

 fection. 



Glanders was first known to us as a disease of the horse 

 and ass characterized by the occurrence of discrete, clean- 

 ly-cut ulcers upon the mucous membrane of the nose. 

 These ulcers are formed by the breaking down of nodules 

 which can be detected upon the diseased membranes, and 

 show no tendency to recover, but slowly spread and dis- 

 charge a virulent pus. The edges of the ulcers are in- 

 durated and elevated, the surfaces often smooth. The 

 disease does not progress to any great extent before the 

 submaxillary lymphatic glands begin to enlarge. Later 

 on these glands form large lobulated masses, which may 

 soften, open, and become discharging ulcers. The lungs 

 may also become infected by inspiration of the infectious 

 material, and contain small foci not unlike tubercles in 

 appearance. The animals ultimately die of exhaustion. 



In 1882, shortly after the discovery of the tubercle 

 bacillus, LofHer and Schiitz discovered in the discharges 

 and tissues of this disease the specific micro-organism, 

 the glanders bacillus (Bacillus mallei ; Fig. 59), which is 

 its cause. 



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