7.06 Glanders. 



all cases by post-mortem examination. The foci in question are adapted 

 equally well for microscopical examination and for the inoculation 

 of experiment animals. According to Rudenko glanders bacilli may 

 be found in lymph glands as early as two days after endo-nasal or 

 percutaneous infection, while no other changes, except, at most, slightly 

 increased juiciness of the tissues, are visible to the naked eye. 



Microscopical Examination. The practical value of a microscopical 

 examination is limited by the fact that the bacilli of glanders are not 

 readily recognized as such in bacterial mixtures. Both the nasal secre- 

 tions as well as the secretions of ulcers always contain a mixed bacterial 

 flora and are consequently ill adapted for a microscopical diagnosis. 

 Freshly incised nodes in the skin or subcutaneous connective tissue 

 constitute an exception to this however, as do also the foci in the sub- 

 maxillary lymph glands, but the bacilli are present in these in such 

 limited numbers that their discovery is not always an easy matter. 

 However, when bacilli that resemble those of glanders in their mor- 

 phological characteristics and stain according to Gram's method are 

 found in such material, the diagnosis of glanders is justified. 



The technic of the examination consists in the staining of coverglass prepara- 

 tions with aqueous or carbolized anilin staining solutions. Loeffler's method 

 (Staining fluid: 30 cc. concentrated alcoholic methylene blue solution + 100 ec. 

 of a 1:10,000 caustic potash solution or: anilin water, gentian violet or fuchsin 

 and similarly diluted caustic potash solution or %% ammonia aa, followed by 

 treatment with acetic acid) as well as the method of Sahli (Staining solution: %% 

 methylene blue solution and 1% Borax solution aa) are in no way superior to the 

 ordinary methods. 



Culture Method. This may occasionally give positive results when 

 the microscopical examination was fruitless. Sterile boiled potatoes or 

 coagulated blood serum are specially adapted for this purpose. A 

 small quantity of the contents of a suspected focus, obtained under 

 aseptic precautions, is carefully spread over the surface of the medium 

 by means of a platinum needle. If kept at a temperature of 25° to 

 27° C, distinctly visible colonies may be recognized after 3 to 4 days 

 by their viscous nature and, on the potato medium, by their honey- 

 yellow color which subsequently becomes reddish-brown. On blood 

 serum they have a honey-like opacity and are viscid like the potato 

 cultures (on potatoes some strains of eoli bacilli form similar masses, 

 though are less distinctly reddish-brown, but more yellowish-gray and 

 not viscid). If the material is applied thinly the bacillus may some- 

 times be obtained in isolated colonies from bacterial mixtures. 



Portions of organs with suspected glanderous changes are best preserved in 

 glycerin and sent to specially equipped laboratories for bacteriological examina- 

 tion. According to Galtier tissues that are infected with bacilli and immersed in 

 30% glycerin will retain their virulence for at least ten days, and frequently 

 as long as 30 days. 



Diagnostic Animal Inoculations. The inoculation of experiment 

 animals with suspected morbid products may frequently give very 

 valuable results, although they are decisive only when they furnish 

 positive evidence. Such results are best obtained by the inoculation 

 of material from the interior of encapsulated nodes or abscesses or 

 from the base of fresh ulcers, while nasal secretion is less adapted for 

 this purpose because it usually contains admixtures of other bacteria 



