Glanders, also known as farcy, is an infectious and fatal disease that occurs in horses, mules and donkeys. It was first described by the Greeks in 450–425 BC and by the Romans in 400–500 AD. Donkeys are prone to acute forms of glanders while horses are more likely to develop a chronic and latent form of the disease. Mules get both, chronic as well as latent infections. Other animals can contract this disease as well, such as dogs, cats, camels, hamsters, guinea pigs and goats. It can spread through food or water contaminated with the Burkholeria mallei bacteria. Horses get glanders by coming in close contact with other infected horses through shared water, feed troughs and by nuzzling. The bacteria can also spread through brushes, halters or harnesses. The disease has been eradicated from North America, Australia, and most of Europe; however, it still exists in India, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

Infectious disease

Glanders has a two week incubation period. And when a horse gets infected, there are two forms in which it occurs: in the acute form, the animal gets a cough, a very high fever, and an infectious yellow green nasal discharge. This is followed by respiratory failure and septicaemia, with death occurring within days. The other more long-term form of the disease is common in horses. In this, the horse gets ulcers and growths on the skin and in the nose. The horse may have enlarged lymph nodes and nodules on the skin as well. In some cases these nodes may look like long, hard ropes under the skin , especially on the legs. Such infected animals may live for a few years and can widely spread the bacteria in the meantime. Moreover, the glanders bacteria can survive in a contaminated area for more than a year.

Glanders can also be passed on to humans when we come in contact with infected animals, or consume food or water contaminated by their nasal discharge.  

The mortality rate for the pulmonary form of glanders in humans has been reported to be 90-95 percent without treatment and up to 40 percent with treatment. The disease can affect the skin, lungs or the entire body. Signs may include fever, chills, muscle aches, and chest pain; pneumonia can rapidly develop as well. Nodules or ulcers may occur on the skin, nose, eyes, or mouth. Swollen lymph nodes may also be apparent. Conjunctivitis, weeping, heightened sensitivity to light, swelling of the nose and face, cough and headaches are common. In the long term, the muscles of the arms and legs, or in the spleen or liver, can also swell up.

A glanders node may appear as a single blister, gradually developing into a weeping ulcer. The symptoms for the disease can be seen within one to five days. Ultrasonography may reveal multiple, small abscesses in both the liver and the kidney.

However, there is no treatment regimen beyond trying different antibiotics.

Warfare usage

B. mallei was regarded as a potential weapon for bioterrorism as the disease is fatal to humans, and the ease with which the disease spread. It was, in fact, the first biological warfare agent used in the 20th century. During World War I, glanders was believed to have been spread deliberately by German agents to infect Russian horses and mules. Human cases of glanders increased during that period in Russia. Other agents attempted to introduce the disease in the US and Argentina. This had an effect on the troops and supply convoys, as well as on artillery movement, which were dependent on horses and mules. The Japanese deliberately infected horses, civilians, and prisoners of war with B. mallei at the Pinfang Institute (China) during World War II. The former Soviet Union was also alleged to have used B. mallei against opposition forces in Afghanistan between 1982 and 1984. The US studied this agent as a possible biological weapon in 1943–44, but did not weaponise it. But it is highly infectious and resistant to many common antibiotics, so this bacterium has been classified as a category B priority pathogen by the United States National Institute of Health and Centre for Disease Control.

Need for attention

There is no vaccine for glanders so far. Thus, prevention and control depend on early detection and elimination of affected animals, as well as complete quarantine and rigorous disinfection of the areas where the animals were kept. Veterinarians, farriers, transport workers, soldiers, farmers, horse handlers and stable hands are more prone to the disease. Subclinical infections in horses and mules also pose a hidden risk to humans who sit on the horses or handle them. Family members can also get infected while taking care of a glanders-infected individual.

Why am I telling you this? Because India is in the middle of a glanders epidemic. From 2006 to now the ICA National Research Centre on Equines has found hundreds of cases in nine Indian states. The whole of North India (especially Uttar Pradesh) is swarming with horses. They are the main transport for people as well as goods. Yet, not a single veterinary hospital exists for them and if they fall ill they are simply abandoned. There are 15,000 horses in Katra, a town in Jammu and Kashmir, which are used daily by tourists to Vaishno Devi. And in April 2015, glanders had been detected in some of these mules and horses. The local newspapers had even published advisories about it. But no one has paid attention. The director of the Animal Husbandry Department of Jammu has written to me today that, while they have repeatedly found horses with glanders, they have not isolated or euthanized any. Because “the owners of the horses are poor, dependent of the horses for livelihood. In absence of any provision for adequate compensation, the department was facing tremendous opposition from the owners with regard to euthanising infected animals.” This is shocking. Infected horses are still used and kept with other horses. This scenario is even more worrisome because the entire water supply in Katra comes from a single river and all the dead horses are thrown into the that water. Moreover, infected animals even urinate and defecate in the river. The concerned state authorities need to seriously look in to the matter. How many people in Jammu are sick? How many of the animal owners are sick? How many pilgrims have carried back the glanders infection with their Prasad?

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