692 Glanders. 



of the respiratory organs, especially of the nose, are most pre- 

 disposed to infection. The latter is the seat of the glanderous 

 lesions so frequently observed in the later stages of the disease 

 and which are probably the result of infectious emboli or, though 

 only occasionally, of infection with bronchial secretions charged 

 with bacilli (the acute exacerbations of the morbid process 

 which manifest themselves in nasal lesions are undoubtedly due 

 to embolic origin). The lymph glands are also very susceptible 

 to affection and the same is true also of the lymphatic plexuses 

 of the skin and the subcutaneous connective tissue (the nodes 

 found in these localities are also usually of embolic origin), 

 following these the spleen, the liver, testes, bone marrow and 

 periosteum are next in order of susceptibility, although lesions 

 are much less frequently met with in these organs. 



The susceptibility or resisting power of the various tissues is also 

 influenced by previously existing other morbid processes. Thus Cadeac 

 & Malet succeeded in infecting SAvine, the vitality of which had been 

 reduced by other causes (tuberculosis, prolapsus of the rectum, mammary 

 abscess). A horse that had just recovered from an attack of pneumonia 

 but in w^hich a pulmonary adhesion persisted, was fed with cultures 

 of glanders by the authors ; autopsy showed that glanderous lesions were 

 present in the immediate neighborhood of a small cavity only, and 

 therefore were confined to the locus minoris resistentiae. 



When large masses of glanders bacilli gain an entrance to 

 the circulation and thus lodge in the capillaries of a number 

 of organs at the same time, the development of glanders nodules 

 will be observed in numerous places, but alvays in greatest 

 abundance in the nasal mucous membrane and the skin. The 

 resulting generalized infection is then manifested in appearance 

 of grave acute symptoms which however are probably caused 

 in part by pyogenic bacteria. (According to Sewsejenko, 

 streptococci can almost always be demonstrated in the blood 

 in the course of acute glanders.) 



The bacilli of glanders exert their pathogenic action by means of 

 toxins. These are formed also in artificial cultures, probably in the 

 form of endotoxins as a result of dissolution of the bacilli, and con- 

 stitute the active ingredient of mallein. Similar toxins evidently also 

 circulate in the bodies of affected animals causing cell proliferation 

 and cell emigration in the neighborhood of the bacilli. The degenera- 

 tive processes that attack the cellular elements as well as the febrile 

 reactions following infection with large masses of virus and finally the 

 excessive emaciation and great exhaustion which are frequently entirely 

 out of proportion with the extent of the morbid lesions are no doubt due 

 to these toxins. 



Toxins obtained from cultures have a disease producing effect in rather large 

 doses only; in small experiment animals they produce spasms, paralyses, symptoms 

 of congestion and occasionally edema at the point of injection (Finger, Babes). 

 ,Dead bacilli have a similar effect. Bromberg succeeded, in his experiments with 

 icats, in producing fatal acute affections resembling glanders following the injection 



