312 



Glanders in Men. 



Vol. V. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Glanders in Men. 



Sir, — There is a highly interesting article 

 in the London Sporting Magazine for January 

 last, upon this frightful disorder, which, until 

 lately, had been considered peculiar to the 

 horse, the mule, and the ass : late experience, 

 however, has shown, that the poison is not 

 confined to these, but that tlie human subject 

 is as liable to be affected, as either of the ani- 

 mals above-mentioned. This is a truth of 

 great importance to those whose business and 

 profession call them much amongst this kind 

 of stock, and it cannot be too well or too ex- 

 tensively known, that many instances of death 

 in its most awful shape have unquestionably 

 taken place from contact with the animal 

 while under the effects of glanders. 



M. Waldinger was the first to direct atten- 

 tion to the liability of man to be thus affect- 

 ed ; urging the greatest precaution in going 

 amongst glandered horses, as the severest in- 

 jury, and even death, often arises from innc- 

 nlalion. He relates, that a groom had his 

 fingers affected with inflammation ii conse- 

 quence of operating on a diseased horse ; tu- 

 mours, precisely similar to those observed on 

 the horse, were soon developed in hs limbs, 

 and he was at length cured by filing the 

 wounds with small pieces of lint o" cotton 

 steeped in turpentine. Sidon, anothir vete- 

 rinary surgeon, states that glanders s trans- 

 missible from the horse to the man, causing 

 the worst kind of ulcers; and even nentions 

 a case where a horse, took the diseasi from a 

 farrier, who had a glandered sore on Ks hand, 

 which came in contact with the animil while 

 he was giving him a ball: both diel of the 

 disease ! A groom slept in a stable :t Paris, 

 occupied by a glandered horse ; sone days 

 after the death of the animal, the grom was 

 attacked by the same disease, whch was 

 characterized by pustular and gai^renous 

 sores over the body, the nose, and th' throat, 

 below the ears, on the glands, and on he feet. 

 He died on the 12th of February, 1810 ; and 

 on the evening of his death, a small 'uantity 

 of matter was collected from the gangrenous 

 wounds, with which a foundered mre was 

 inoculated : in three days the disese had 

 commenced progress, and at the end S twen- 

 ty-one days from inoculation, the wetched 

 animal was put out of its misery, -overed 

 with gangrenous ulcers, which liad pnvented 

 her from opening her mouth to tale food. 

 Thus it was proved, that it was the glanders 

 the man died of, as a horse, otherwise ealthy, 

 had been impregnated with that disase by 

 matter taken from him after death. 1 should 

 be borne in mind, that this unfortunce man 

 only slept in the stable, where had died a 

 glandered horse ; he must therefoe have 

 taken the disease by contagion. Tiis con- 



clusion should serve as a warning to all, how 

 careful and cautious they ought to be, when 

 necessity compels them to have any commu- 

 nication with glandered horses. M. Leone, 

 a veterinary surgeon in a dragoon regiment, 

 in perfect health, was called upon in his pro- 

 fessional capacity to operate upon a glandered 

 horse in the regiment: after the operation, he 

 introduced his finger into the wound, to ex- 

 plore the extent of the sore ; he had unfor- 

 tunately a slight bruise on his finger at the 

 time, which in a few days became much 

 swollen ; it was extremely painful, and soon 

 covered with fungus-like growths: the wound 

 was cauterized, when he felt the presence of 

 several painful, hard swellings, in several 

 parts of his body, which formed abscesses ; 

 and six weeks after the operation, they had 

 extended to the knee-joint and instep. He 

 had the assistance of many physicians, but 

 without any success: tumours formed and 

 soon broke, and still remain open. 



Very recently, a young man, a groom to a 

 nobleman, who had the charge of a glandered 

 horse, was in the habit of wiping the face of 

 the animal with his pocket-handkerchief, by 

 which the disease was contracted, and he 

 died in one of the hospitals in excruciating 

 agony, every bone in his head being perfect- 

 ly carious! These melancholy details lead 

 to the conclusion, that a man is liable to the 

 infection of glanders — a disease hitherto sup- 

 posed to be peculiar to the horse, the ass, and 

 the mule. It is also ascertained, by inocula- 

 tion, that the farcy is only a modification of 

 glanders, and may co-exist with that disease. 

 But inoculation is not absolutely necessary 

 for the production of glanders, either in man 

 or beast, for sometimes the simple coming in 

 contact with glandered animals produces this 

 disease ; from which we infer that it is con- 

 tagious, and that glanders in a severe form is 

 an incurable disease, both in man and beast. 



The writer had once the charge of a great 

 number of horses on a rail-road, amongst 

 which was one suspected of being glandered : 

 she was a very valuable mare, but the mo- 

 ment suspicion fell upon her, she was re- 

 moved to other quarters. A veterinary sur- 

 geon, on examination, pronounced the disease 

 to be a slight case of glanders, proposing at 

 the same time to bleed and physic the whole 

 number of horses on the road, about fifty in 

 number, as a precautionary measure, and to 

 take the mare into a regular course of treat- 

 ment. It was thought to be the most regu- 

 lar course to shoot the mare at once, which 

 was done out of hand, and there was an end 

 of all anxiety and expense; the doctor him- 

 self admitting that by these measures he had 

 been deprived of a long and fat job, amount- 

 ing to the value of many glandered horses. 



J. P. 



