GLANDERS BACILLUS 411 



Immunity. Attempts have been made to produce artificial immu- 

 nity against glanders, but so far with unsatisfactory results. According 

 to Strauss, by intravenous inoculations of small quantities of living 

 bacilli, dogs may be protected against an injection of quantities which 

 usually kill them. Fenger has found that animals inoculated with 

 glanders bacilli react less powerfully to fresh injections; and that 

 rabbits which have recovered from an injection of glanders are subse- 

 quently immune, the immunity lasting for from three to six weeks. 

 Ladowski has obtained positive results also in rabbits and cats by 

 intravenous injections of sterilized cultures. Other observers have 

 reported not only the production of immunity, but also cures, by the 

 use of mallein. This is prepared in the same way as tuberculin. It 

 consists of the glycerinated bouillon in which the glanders bacilli have 

 grown and which contains the products of their growth and activity. 

 Concentrated mallein is produced by evaporating a six-weeks-old 

 culture of the glanders bacillus in 5 per cent, glycerin nutrient veal 

 bouillon to 10 per cent, of its original bulk. Some evaporate the 

 culture fluid only to 20 per cent. The dose is about 0.5 c.c. of the 

 former, or 2 c.c. of the second preparation. 



USE OF GUINEA-PIGS AND CULTURES IN DIAGNOSIS. It is often 

 difficult to demonstrate microscopically the presence of the bacillus 

 of glanders in the nodules which have undergone purulent degen- 

 eration, in the secretions from the nostrils, or in the pus from the 

 specific ulcers and suppurating glands. It is then necessary to make 

 immediate cultures and also animal tests of these discharges by 

 inoculating susceptible animals, as guinea-pigs and mice, and then 

 from these to obtain a pure culture; but this requires time, and in 

 clinical work it is of great importance for the diagnosis to be estab- 

 lished as quickly as possible. With this view Strauss has prepared a 

 method which is prompt and which has given very satisfactory results. 

 This consists in introducing into the peritoneal cavity of a male guinea- 

 pig some material or a culture from the suspected products. If it be 

 a case of glanders, the diagnosis may be made within two or three days 

 from the tumefaction of the testicles, which become red and swollen, 

 and show evidences of pus formation. One objection to this method, 

 however, is that occasionally from the injection of impure material, 

 as in the nasal secretion, the animal may die of septicaemia. This is 

 particularly frequent when field mice are used for the tests; but if pure 

 matter can be obtained, as from the lymphatic glands of the horse, 

 this method is entirely satisfactory. 



DIAGNOSTIC USE OF MALLEIN. The diagnosis of glanders in horses, 

 in which the usual symptoms of the disease have not yet manifested 

 themselves, or in which it is suspected, may often be made by 

 the use of mallein. Following an injection of mallein in a glander- 

 ous horse (best made about midnight) there will be a local reac- 

 tion, and a general reaction with a rise of temperature. The 

 temperature usually begins to rise three or four hours after the 

 injection, and reaches its maximum between the tenth and twelfth 



