INFECTIOUS DISEASES. i 557 
indemnity for the animal. When this is done, in all cases the animal 
is destroyed and the articles with which it has been in contact are 
thoroughly disinfected. When the attendants have attempted to 
hide the presence of the disease in a community, punishment is meted 
out to the owner, attending veterinarian, or other responsible parties. 
Several States have passed excellent laws in regard to glanders, but 
these laws are not always carried out with the rigidity with which 
they should be. 
SPOROTRICHOSIS (MYCOTIC LYMPHANGITIS). 
By Joun R. Mouser, V.M. D., Assistant Chief, Bureau of Animal Industry. 
This disease has previously been known in this country as epizootic 
lymphangitis, or pseudo-farcy. It is a chronic, contagious disease, 
particularly of equines, caused by a specific organism, the Sporotri- 
chum schenckii, and characterized by a suppurative inflammation of 
the subcutaneous lymph vessels and the neighboring lymph glands. 
Owing to the fact that this affection does not spread as an epizootic 
and that its causal factor is a fungus, the name sporotrichosis has 
been suggested. 
The disease in man was first described by Schenck and by Beur- 
mann and Gougerot. .Carougeau observed its occurrence among 
horses and mules in Madagascar, while in the United States it was 
first observed by Pearson in Pennsylvania in 1907, although it is 
probable that it had existed for many years in various parts of this 
country. Page and Frothingham were first to recognize its mycotic 
nature in the United States. More recently Meyer has also made 
valuable contributions with regard to the existence of this affection. 
Its presence has been definitely established in Ohio, Iowa, California, 
and North Dakota, and there is a probability of its existence in 
Indiana and several Western States. 
Bacteriology—tThe sporotrichum is 2 microns thick, cylindrical 
and segmented, having more or less branching threads, which bear 
spores at the end. In the pus they occur as slightly ovoid bodies 3 to 
5 microns long, which are somewhat pointed toward the poles, have a 
sharp double contour, and only on artificial cultivation at a tempera- 
ture of over 18° do they develop into the characteristic spore-carrying 
threads. 
The period of incubation varies greatly, extending from three 
days to four months, or even longer. In artificial inoculations with 
pus through wounds in the skin, inflammation and swelling of the 
lymph vessels may be noticed in ten to sixty days; these vessels show 
in their course a development of hard nodules, from which abscesses 
form. 
The natural infection without doubt is caused through superficial 
~wounds, such as galls, barbed-wire cuts, or through various stable 
