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Glanders - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Glanders : (noun)
1: a destructive and contagious bacterial disease of horses
that can be transmitted to humans
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Glanders : \Glan"ders\, n. [Based on Gland.] (Far.)
A highly contagious and very destructive disease of horses,
asses, mules, etc., characterized by a constant discharge of
sticky matter from the nose, and an enlargement and
induration of the glands beneath and within the lower jaw. It
may transmitted to dogs, goats, sheep, and to human beings.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Glanders : Glanders: A bacterial infection that causes a chronic debilitating disease of equids (horses, mules, and donkeys) as well as some members of the cat family and is transmissible to people. The
bacterium responsible for glanders is Burkholderia mallei (formerly called Pseudomonas mallei).
Glanders attacks the mucous membranes of the nostrils, producing increased secretion and discharge of mucus, and enlargement and induration of the lymph glands of the lower jaw. Hence, the name
glanders from the French glandres meaning glands.
Glanders occurs in central and southeast Asia, the Middle East, parts of Africa, and possibly South America. It usually is acquired through direct skin or mucous membrane contact with infected
animal tissues. The incubation period is 1 to 14 days. The clinical presentation varies; skin inoculation can result in localized infection with nodule formation and swollen glands. The disease often
manifests as pneumonia , bronchopneumonia, or lobar pneumonia, with or without bacteremia (bacterial blood stream infection). There may be liver and spleen involvement.
Antibiotics such as sulfadiazine have been used to treat humans. The mortality from this infection was approximately 95% before the use of antimicrobial agents; however, except when bacteremia
develops, better diagnosis and more appropriate therapy have lowered mortality. No vaccine against this infection is available.
Bioterrorism -- The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress, in a 1999 report considered glanders to be a "potential" biologic threat for terrorism, but noted
it is difficult to acquire seed stock of the agent (Burkholderia mallei) and moderately difficult to process and disseminate it. The agent is very stable. Its lethal effects were deemed to be "moderate
to high."
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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