THE GLANDERS BACILLUS 



311 



salivary glands, etc. In the chronic form a local granulomatous 

 condition may occur, which usually breaks down and gives rise to 

 the formation of an irregular ulcer with thickened margins, and 

 sanious, often foul, discharge. The ulceration spreads deeply as 

 well as superficially, and the thickened lymphatics also have a 

 great tendency to ulcerate, though the lymphatic system is not 

 so prominently affected as in the horse. Deposits may form in 

 the subcutaneous tissue and muscles, and the mucous membrane 

 may become affected. The disease may run a very chronic 

 course, lasting for months or even years, and recovery may 

 occur ; on the other 

 hand, such a case may 

 at any time ' take on 

 the characters of the 

 acute form of the 

 disease and rapidly 

 become fatal. Even 

 when there is apparent 

 recovery recurrence may 

 occur. 



The Glanders Bacil- 

 lus. — Microscopical 

 Characters. — The glan- 

 ders bacilli are minute 

 rods, straight or slightly 

 curved, with rounded 

 ends, and about the 

 same length as tubercle 

 bacilli, but distinctly 

 thicker (Fig. 88). They 

 show, however, con- 

 siderable variations in size and in appearance, and their proto- 

 plasm is often broken up into a number of deeply-stained 

 portions with unstained intervals between. These characters are 

 seen both in the tissues and in cultures, but, as in the case of 

 many organisms, irregularities in form and size are more pro- 

 nounced in cultures (Fig. 89) ; short filamentous forms 8 to 

 12 fi in length are sometimes met with, but these are on the 

 whole rare. The organism is non-motile and does not form 

 spores. 



In the tissues the bacilli usually occur irregularly scattered 

 amongst the cellular elements ; a few may be contained within 

 leucocytes and connective-tissue corpuscles, but the position of 

 most is extracellular. They are most abundant in the acute 



Fig. 88. — Glanders bacilli, —several contained 

 within leucocytes, — from peritoneal exudate 



in a guinea-pig. 

 Stained with weak carbol-fuchsin. 



x 1000. 



