534 BUREAU OF AI^IMAL INDUSTRY. 



as is shown bj' the inevitable infection of susceptible animals inocu- 

 lated Avitli the disease, while the discharge from chronic semilatent 

 glanders and fare}' may at times be inoculated with a negative result; 

 again, in acute glanders, as we have a free discharge, a much greater 

 quantity of A'irus-containing matter is scattered in the neighborliood 

 of an infected horse to serve as a contagion to others than is found in 

 the small amount of discharge of the chronic cases. 



The chances of contagion are much greater when sound horses, asses, 

 or mules are placed in the immediate neighborhood of glandcred 

 horses, drink from the same bucket, stand in the next stall or work in 

 the same wagon, or are fed from feed boxes or mangers which have 

 been impregnated b^' the saliva and soiled by the discharge of sick ani- 

 mals. Transmission occurs b}^ direct contact of the discharges of a 

 glandered animal with the tissues of a sound one, either on the exterior, 

 when swallowed mixed with food into the digestive tract or when 

 dried and inhaled as dust. 



The stable attendants serve as one of the most common carriers of 

 the virus. Dried or fresh discharges are collected from the infected 

 animal in cleaning, harnessing, feeding, and by means of the hands, 

 clothing, the teeth of the currycomb, the sponge, the bridle, and the 

 halter, and are thus carried to other animals. 



An animal affected with chronic glanders in a latent form is moved 

 from one part of the stable to another, or works hitched with one horse 

 and then with another, and ma}'^ be an active agent in the spreading 

 of the disease without the cause being recognized. 



Glanders is found frequently in the most insidious forms, and we 

 recognize that it can exist without being apparent; that is, it may 

 affect a harse for a long period without showing any symptoms that 

 will allow even the most experienced veterinarian to make a diagnosis. 

 An old gray mare belonging to a tavern keeper was reserved for 

 family u^e with good care and light work for a period of eight years, 

 during which tiiHe other horses in the ta\ern stal^le were from time 

 to time affected with glanders without an apparent cause. The mare, 

 whoso only trouble was an apparent attack of heaves, was sold to a 

 huckster who placed her at hard w^ork. Want of feed and overwork 

 and exposure rapidly developed a case of acute glanders, from which 

 the animal died, and at the autopsy were found the lesions of an acute 

 pneumonia of glanders grafted on chronic lesions, consisting of old 

 nodules which had undoubtedly existed for j^ears. 



In a case that once came under the care of the writer, a coach horse 

 was examined for soundness and passed aw sound by a prominent 

 veterinarian, who a few months afterwards treated the horse for a 

 skin eruption from which it recovered. Twelve months afterwards it 

 came into the hands of the w^-iter, hidebound, with a slight cough and 

 a slight eruption of the skin, which was attributed to clipping and the 



