CHAPTER XVIII. 
GLANDERS, ANTHRAX, PYOCYANEUS, INFECTIOUS 
ABORTION, MALTA FEVER; ACIDLTIIC BACTERIA. 
BACILLUS MALLEI 
Historical.— Glanders is a disease primarily of animals having an 
undivided hoof : horses, asses, and mules. It may be acute or chronic, 
and two clinical types are recognized: glanders, an initial infection 
of the nasal mucosa, and regional lymphatic glands, later an involve- 
ment of the internal organs, more commonly the lungs; and farcy, 
a cutaneous glanders, in which the cutaneous lymphatics are involved 
with the formation of nodules (farcy buds) which frequently ulcerate 
and discharge a cohesive sticky secretion. Man is occasionally 
infected, the disease being one of the most fatal known. The causa- 
tive organism, B. mallei, was described by Loffler and Schutz in 1882.^ 
Morphology,— B. mallei is a small bacillus with rounded or some- 
what attenuated ends, measuring from 0.5 to 0.75 micron in diameter, 
and from 2 to 5 microns in length. The organisms occur singly and in 
pairs in culture media, although long filamentous forms are not uncom- 
mon on potato. In pus and from tissues the bacilli occur in groups or 
clusters. The bacilli frequently appear as short, almost coccoid 
elements, both in culture and in rivo. Older cultures frequently con- 
tain many branched forms. The glanders bacillus is non-motile, and 
possesses no flagella. Capsule and spores have not been observed. 
The organism stains faintly with ordinary anilin dyes, better with those 
having an alkaline reaction. It is Gram-negative. Stained with 
LofRer's alkaline methylene blue, the organism exhibits irregularity 
of colorable material; the bacilli may even resemble groups of cocci 
with faintly stainable substance connecting the deeply stained, round 
granules. Zeit- has called attention to the resemblance of B. mallei 
in pus and tissue to staphylococci when stained with methylene blue, 
and the possibility of error in diagnosis upon morphological examina- 
tion alone. The Gram stain will distinguish between the two, however. 
Isolation and Culture. ^B. mallei grows well upon ordinary laboratory 
media, better if glycerin is added, and upon blood serum and potato. 
The first growth outside the animal body may be difficult to obtain. 
Colonies on glycerin agar (reaction + 2 or pH 6.8) are small, yellowish 
and round. At first the growths are translucent, later they become 
nearly opaque and more deeply colored. Growth in gelatin is slow 
1 Deutsch. med. W'chnschr., 1882, 8, 707. 
2 Jour. Am. Med. Assn., 1909, 52, 181. 
