204 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



Glanders m Human Beings. 



As I said of anthrax, it seems to me indispensable that the vet- 

 erinarian should also know the essential points of glanders in man. 

 In detailing these I shall give the facts directly from Bollinger's 

 description. 



Etiology. 



It must be self-evident that equine glanders is the source whence 

 human beings derive the disease. In most cases it is possible to 

 trace the disease to the cause, although in some we are unable to ; 

 this latter variety has been looked upon in times past as of sponta- 

 neous origin. 



The inficiens gains access to the human organs by means of 

 wounded or abraded surfaces, either in the care of diseased ani- 

 mals, or by persons examining them, or by persons in knackers' 

 establishments, and occasionally through accident or sheer careless- 

 ness. In some cases the nose, mouth, or eyes may serve as the 

 atrium, when horses snort and blow such material into these cavities. 

 A few cases have been reported where the bite of a glandered horse 

 has caused infection. 



It is undoubtedly a fact that the flesh of glandered horses is in- 

 fectious, as is proved by the disease occurring in lions and other 

 animals that have fed upon it. 



Decroix, the noted hippophagist of France, had the temerity to 

 eat it in both a cooked and uncooked condition, and saw no evil re- 

 sults therefrom. Koll and others report cases of infection of grooms 

 and others by drinking from the stable water-pails, or by wiping a 

 wound with a rubbing-cloth, or among veterinarians by using one's 

 handkerchief to wipe the horse's discharge from off the clothes, and 

 then using it about the person. 



"When the disease occurs without any known locus infectlonis, 

 we must assume that it is through the aspired air, especially where 

 a constitutional complication antedates any local disturbances. 



This has been observed to occur in grooms, etc., especially where 

 they sleep in the stables, or by the accidental sleeping upon the 

 straw which had been used to bed a glandered horse. 



In this regard the following two cases are interesting : 



1. A groom had the habit of taking the warm blanket off 

 the horse and replacing it with another. He would roll himself 

 up in it perfectly nude, and cover himself with others, and thus 

 sleep in the stable. The man acquired glanders, though no one 

 had suspected its existence in the horse, nor were there any ul- 



