486 THE GLANDERS BACILLUS 



(inoculation of horses with a bacillus after passage through cats), and of 

 Chenot and Picq (inoculation of guinea-pigs with ox serum) have given no 

 conclusive results. 



4. Agglutination. 



In testing the agglutination reaction of the serum of an animal infected 

 with glanders an emulsion in normal saline solution of a young culture on 

 glycerin-agar should be used. It is better to sterilize the culture by heating 

 it at 60 C. for an hour. 



The serum of healthy horses agglutinates the bacillus in dilutions of 1 in 100 

 to 1 in 300, while that of infected animals under the same conditions will 

 agglutinate the bacillus in dilutions of 1 in 500 to 1 in 1000 (Bourges and 

 Mery, M'Fadyean, Pokchichevsky). 



Normal human serum also agglutinates the glanders bacillus but the 

 reaction is more marked in the case of persons suffering from the disease. 



On the whole the agglutination reaction does not afford a practical method 

 for the diagnosis of glanders. 



SECTION IV. DETECTION AND ISOLATION OF THE GLANDERS 



BACILLUS. 



Distribution of the bacillus in the tissues. In cases of glanders the bacillus 

 can be found in the pus, in the discharges from the ulcers and nasal mucous 

 membrane, in the farcy buds, and in tubercles and infarcts. 



The lymphatic system is the site of election of the bacillus ; as a rule the 

 lymphatic glands are infected at an early stage, but this is not invariably 

 the case, and Nocard has shown that the enlarged glands in the neck do not 

 always produce glanders on inoculation into suitable animals. 



In the lower animals the bacillus is practically never found in the blood 

 (Nocard) except in very acute forms of the disease (Lixteyn and Preusse). 

 In man the bacillus is found in the blood more often than in animals (Loeffler, 

 Goutchakofi, Sittmann). 



The saliva, urine, secretion of the testicles and of the sweat glands have 

 in some cases been found to be infected but in no case has the milk been 

 shown to contain the bacillus. 



Note. It is often impossible to detect the glanders bacillus by microscopical 

 examination even in films of pus or of the contents of the tubercles from cases of 

 glanders. The presence or absence of the glanders bacillus can neither be affirmed 

 nor denied on microscopical examination alone ; cultivation and inoculation experi- 

 ments must be carried out in every case. The failure to find the specific bacillus 

 is particularly common in chronic lesions, and especially in lesions of the horse. 

 To find the bacillus by microscopical examination pus from dogs, or an enlarged 

 testicle from a guinea-pig, or material from an acute lesion in the ass should be 

 used. 



The diagnosis of glanders. 



The clinical diagnosis of glanders is often difficult and sometimes impossible 

 without laboratory methods. The early diagnosis of latent glanders is onh 

 possible by using mallein in the manner described above. The present 

 section is concerned only with laboratory methods of diagnosis the detec- 

 tion and isolation of the bacillus. 



1. Microscopical examination. Pus, discharges from sores and scrapings 

 of the internal organs, etc. will provide the material for examination. The 

 films should be stained in the manner already described. The bacillus is 

 gram-negative. Pieces of tissue for histological examination should be 

 hardened in alcohol and embedded in paraffin. 



