Glanders Disease, Spreading from Animals to Humans.

Glanders is a disease that affects humans, but it is a disease that primarily affects horses, it can affect mules and donkeys too, but naturally, it can be contracted by other mammals like; dogs, cats, and goats. It is caused by the bacteria Burkholderia mallei, and can also be transmitted to humans, of course, that makes it a zoonotic disease.

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The disease creates ulcerations and nodules in the lungs and respiratory tract in animals. Carnivores could get infected through the consumption of infected meat. The length and period of incubation are dependent on the intensity of exposure.

Ingestion of contaminated food or water happens to be the most common source of ingestion. Contaminated fomites introduced to the animals through grooming equipment could also stand as a source of infection. The bacteria could also find its way into the body through contact with abrasions of the skin or through the mucosa, with this contact, a local infection with ulceration may happen, even spreading to other parts of the body.

Glanders have the ability to spread very widely, especially when large numbers of animals are in close contact. Also, there are established reports that show that, the disease is more common amongst undernourished animals.

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The signs and symptoms of glanders usually include; Headache, chest pain, muscle aches, nasal discharge, sensitivity to light, muscle tightness, and fever. The symptoms experienced will be highly dependent on the type of infection. There are actually four recognized clinical presentations of glanders, we have the;

Pulmonary Infection: Glanders often shows itself as a pulmonary infection, with pulmonary infections, pneumonia, pulmonary abscesses, and pleural effusion can happen. When a chest X-ray is carried out, it shows a localized infection in the lobes of the lungs.

Chronic Infection: The chronic form involves several abscesses within the muscles and skin of the arms and legs.

Bloodstream Infection: In the absence of treatment, glanders bloodstream infections could get really fatal within 7-10 days.

Localized Infection: With a scratch or a cut on the skin, there would be a localized infection with ulceration which may develop within 1-5 days at a spot where the bacteria got into the body.

It may seem like Glander is no longer an issue in the United States, as the last reported case hasn't been since the 1940s, and this result was reported to be achieved through quarantine. But, regions like; Asia, South America, Africa, Central America, and the Middle East have reportedly reported cases.

To date, however, there has been no treatment with veterinary drugs to cure the infection. In order to control glanders, there needs to be early detection, and in countries where glanders are common in animals, humans can be protected from getting the disease by identifying and eliminating the infections.

Human glanders come in both chronic and acute forms, mainly affecting the respiratory system, the skin, and the subcutaneous soft tissues. Glanders was a more common disease during the period of wars, when large numbers of horses were used.

References.

cdc.gov/glanders/symptoms/index

woah.org/en/disease

vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology

cdc.gov/glanders/exposure

sciencedirect.com/topics

cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets

msdvetmanual.com/generalized

vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology