GLANDERS (from gland, from Lat. glans, acorn). A virulent contagious disease due to the action of a specific microbe, the Bacillus maflei. The microbe was discovered in 1882 by Loeffler and Schutz. It is a short, rather stubby rod, with rounded ends. It stains irregularly, occurs singly, in pairs, or in long strings, and grows readily in the ordinary culture media. As a re sult of natural contagion, glanders is almost en tirely confined to the horse, ass, and mule. Cattle enjoy an immunity from it, and sheep and pigs are highly resistant to natural contagion. Dogs, cats, and wild carnivora may become infected by eat ing the meat of glanderous horses. Glanders has been known since the time of the classic Latin and Greek writers as one of the most dreaded horse diseases. Its distribution is practically uni versal, though it is said not to occur in Australia.
Glanders appears under several forms with different symptoms. The acute and chronic forms of glanders are universally recognized. The acute form begins with a high fever. The coat is star ing and there are frequent chills. The mucous sur faces are reddened or sometimes yellowish, puru lent ulcers appearing on those of the nose. These ulcers rapidly increase in size and depth. Pain ful swellings occur on various parts of the body, especially in the neighborhood of the lymphatics. In many cases the joints of the legs are affected by acute inflammation. Death generally occurs in from eight to thirty days. Chronic glanders occurs in the skin-form known as farcy, and as true glanders affecting the lungs and other inter nal organs. In farcy the symptoms begin by the formation of nodules under the skin, known as farcy buttons. The surrounding tissues are broken down, and running ulcers are thus formed. After a variable period these ulcers heal. The disease breaks out again, however, in the same or other locations. The farcy buttons occur most frequent ly on the neck, shoulders, and inside the thighs.
During the progress of ordinary chronic gland ers the lungs are affected by glanderous pneu monia. A lobular V-shaped pneumonia, occurring at the various foci of infection, is characteristic of glanders. Tubercles of sizes varying from that of a millet-seed to that of an egg are formed in the lungs, liver, spleen, and occasionally in the kidneys. The tissue of these tubercles breaks
down, leaving cavities filled with pus, some of which, in long-standing cases, may ultimately heal.
The symptoms of chronic glanders which are most relied upon by practicing veterinarians for diagnostic purposes are nodular swelling of the submaxillary glands, a dry cough after exercise, farcy buttons on the skin, and a persistent puru lent discharge from the nose.
The spread of the disease is due chiefly to the discharges from the nose and from farcy sores. The virus from these sources may contaminate harness, vehicles, fences, stables, water-supply, etc., through which other animals are readily infected.
Nearly all the tonics and curative agents known to veterinary medicine have been used in the treatment of glanders, but without result. Medical treatment is of no avail. Spontaneous recovery takes place in rare instances. When the chief symptoms are those of farcy, apparent re covery takes place at intervals, followed by re newed outbreaks of the disease. The nasal symp toms may also cease, and later recur. In chronic cases the disease may persist for several years be fore death occurs.
G]andered animals should be shot and buried or burned. Such procedure is required by law in nearly all countries. Stables and all articles with which glandered horses have come in contact should be disinfected.
For the detection of cases of glanders the symp toms already mentioned are not always sufficient. In latent cases recourse is had to injections of mallein. This substance is prepared from the glanders bacillus and contains the glanders toxin, but not the living bacilli. An injection of this substance into healthy horses causes no reac tion. In glanderous horses it produces an eleva tion of temperature, swelling of the submaxillary glands, and trembling, which subsides after a few hours. A rise in body temperature of 2°F. after a mallein injection is considered good evidence of the presence of glanders. Some investigators have obtained quite striking curative effects from the continued use of large' doses of mallein. In jections of the colloidal silver preparation also cause an elevation of temperature in glanderous subjects, and are used to some extent as a diagnostic agent for glanders.