Glanders

also called Farcy, specific infectious and contagious disease of solipeds (the horse, ass, and mule); secondarily, humans may become infected through contact with diseased animals or by inoculation while handling diseased tissues and making laboratory cultures of the causal bacillus. In 1882 the bacteriologists Friedrich Löffler and Wilhelm Schütz in Germany isolated and identified the causal agent, which they named the Bacillus mallei, now designated technically as the Pfeifferella mallei or Malleomyces mallei. After infection, the disease usually follows a chronic course with a variable period of incubation extending from several weeks to several months.

Clinical cases in solipeds are manifested by a chronic nasal discharge from one or both nostrils, with or without visible ulceration of the nasal septum; chronic enlargement and hardening of the submaxillary lymph glands without outward discharge of pus; or the presence of pustules and ulcers (farcy buds) on the skin of the hindlegs or other parts of the body. Nonclinical, or latent, cases are essentially pulmonary in type, and the lesions remain in a concealed state (occult) in the lungs as tubercle-like nodules and suppurating foci. In many latent cases, the affected animal shows slight signs of lung trouble (altered breathing).

The only effective policy for the control of the disease is slaughter of infected animals and proper cleaning and disinfection of the affected premises. Under this policy, glanders was almost completely eradicated in the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada. The disease is still known to prevail in some parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Glanders in man most frequently occurs through occupational contact with diseased horses, from making an autopsy on a diseased animal, or from making laboratory cultures of the bacteria. The treatment of human glanders has included the use of many drugs, largely tonic and palliative, combined with surgical treatment. In selected cases, the use of certain antibiotics has shown promising results.