DISEASES OF ANIMALS 



9:) 



The nasal form of glanders is char- 

 acterized by chronic catarrh. The nasal 

 discharge may be interrupted at inter- 

 vals, but sooner or later begins again. 

 The division wall in the nose is attacked 

 and pustules form which later break 

 down and slough off leaving ulcers with 

 a ragged outline which may be seen 

 from the nasal openings. Occasionally, 

 however, the ulcers are located too far 

 back to be visible. 



The skin form of glanders, also 

 know as farcy, is chiefly character- 

 ized by the presence of numerous swell- 

 ings in the lymphatic glands just be- 

 neath the skin of various parts of the 

 body but particularly of the legs. The 

 farcy buttons, as they are called, may be 

 accompanied with a general swelling of 

 the affected parts. In stallions the testi- 

 cles usually become swollen during the 

 early stage of the disease. 



These different forms of glanders, as 

 already indicated, are not distinct dis- 

 eases but may all appear in one and the 

 same case. During the progress of the 

 disease the liver, spleen, kidneys, pan- 

 creas and various other organs may be 

 attacked in addition to the lungs, lym- 

 phatic glands, skin and mucous lining 

 of the nose. 



In ordinary cases of glanders a dry 

 cough is noticed, especially after exer- 

 cise or after pressure on the throat. 

 This cough is to be distinguished from 

 that of ordinary colds or other diseases 

 by the fact that it persists indefinitely. 

 The submaxillary glands are usually 

 swollen and very sensitive. These glands 

 may be felt by pressing against the in- 

 side of the lower jawbone from the un- 

 der side of the throat. In health the 

 submaxillary glands are soft and not 

 readily recognizable by the touch; when 

 attacked by glanders they become hard, 

 knotty and slip back and forth under 

 pressure. The swelling of the submax- 

 illary glands is one of the symptoms by 

 means of which the disease is diagnosed. 



Symptoms frequently obscured — 

 While glanders, as already indicated, 

 is almost always fatal and therefore one 

 of the most, if not the most, serious dis- 

 ease of horses, the symptoms are often 

 quite obscure in the early course of the 

 disease, and it therefore becomes of 

 great importance to devise a method for 

 recognizing the disease as early as pos- 

 sible. In cases of recent origin or slow 

 development where the external symp- 



toms are not recognizable, mallein has 

 been found to be a most valuable and 

 reliable agent in the detection of gland- 

 ers. Mallein is a product of the gland- 

 ers bacillus containing the active toxin 

 or poison of the bacillus, but no living 

 bacilli. It cannot, therefore, produce 

 glanders, and it has no noticeable effect 

 upon the healthy horse. In glander- 

 ous horses, on the other hand, a hypo- 

 dermic injection of mallein causes an 

 elevation of temperature to the extent 

 of one to three degrees, swelling at the 

 point of inoculation and occasionally 

 trembling. The method of making the 

 mallein test is essentially the samt, as 

 that adopted in the tuberculin test. (See 

 tuberculosis under Diseases of Cattle.) 

 The use of mallein is generally prac- 

 ticed throughout the world in detecting 

 glanders in its incipient stages. 



There is no satisfactory treatment 

 for glanders and none should be 

 adopted or permitted. A course of treat- 

 men^ for glanders adopted by a careless 

 veterinarian or farmer simply results 

 in exposing other horses and men to in- 

 fection with a disgusting and incurable 

 disease. The use of mallein in repeated 

 and large doses has sometimes apparently 

 caused a partial or complete cure of 

 glanders after that disease had been 

 thoroughly established. Thus, a num- 

 ber of instances of this sort have been 

 reported in England, Canada, the 

 United States and elsewhere. These 

 cases of supposed cure, however, are not 

 so numerous as have been thought and 

 many of them have turned out to be 

 merely apparent cures. The system first 

 adopted in Canada, after much serious 

 thought along this line, was to quaran- 

 tine all horses which showed a tempo- 

 rary reaction after the use of mallein 

 and keep them under observation for a 

 number of years, during which they re- 

 ceived other mallein injections. This 

 method, however, has been abandoned 

 and in its place the more satisfactory 

 one has been adopted of killing all glan- 

 derous horses as soon as the disease 

 is detected. 



Care of a glanderous horse — As al- 

 ready indicated, there is no satisfactory 

 treatment for glanders. Good care and 

 a nutritious diet may enable glanderous 

 horses to live for five years or more, but 

 in the meantime they may spread con- 

 tagion far and wide. All glanderous 

 animals should therefore be killed im- 



