GLANDERS: ITS DIAGNOSIS AND PREVENTION. 



TOGETHER WITH A REPORT ON TWO CASES OF HUMAN GLANDERS OCCURRING 

 IN MANILA AND SOME NOTES ON THE BACTERIOLOGY AND 

 (f> 2W3OMORPHISM OF BACTERIUM MALLEI. 



By WM. B. WHERRY, M. D., Bacteriologist, Biological Laboratory. 



INTRODUCTION. 



General nature and distribution of the disease. 1 Glanders is 

 a specific, contagious disease occurring naturally in horses, mules, 

 and asses and sometimes transmitted to man and other animals. 

 It may run an acute or chronic course which is characterized 

 clinically by more or less grave constitutional disturbances, and 

 pathologically by the formation of small nodular areas of leucocytic 

 infiltration, especially in the mucous membranes of the upper air 

 passages, the lungs, and the skin. 



The specific organism which causes the disease was discovered 

 in 1882 by Loffler and Schiitz, who named it Bacterium mallei and 

 established its etiologic relationship by reproducing the disease 

 in animals with pure cultures. Since then an immense amount 

 of work carried on in various parts of the world has resulted in 

 valuable information concerning its diagnosis and control. 



The disease has a very wide geographical distribution, existing 

 throughout the greater part of the civilized world. Insular places, 

 if far from the mainland and free from the importation of horses, 

 usually escape. Thus glanders is very rare in Iceland and in the 



1 In the preparation of this brief review of the characteristics of the 

 disease I have excerpted to a greater or less extent from the articles 

 cited at the end of this bulletin. For fuller details one should consult 

 the works of Councilman and Moore, where, also, further bibliographical 

 references will be found. 



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