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Glanders
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==Historical cases and potential use in war== Glanders has been known since antiquity, with a description by Hippocrates around 425 [[Common Era|BCE]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=C. D. |last=McGilvray |title=The Transmission of Glanders from Horse to Man |journal=Canadian Journal of Public Health |publisher=Canadian Public Health Association |volume=35 |number=7 |date=July 1944 |pages=268–275 |jstor=41978893}}</ref> From the Middle Ages to the 1900s, glanders was a significant threat to armies.<ref>{{cite book |first=E.G. |last=Lafosse |title=Traité sur le véritable siège de la morve des chevaux, et les moyens d'y remédier |location=Paris |publisher=David & Gonichon |year=1749 |chapter=Preface |quote=It is a well established fact that the great and terrible ravages of glanders are found in the armies; it is certain that during all the wars under which Europe has laboured for 200 years, a very considerable number of horses has been lost through this disease."}}</ref><ref name=Wilkinson>{{cite journal |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Lise |s2cid=4591425 |title=Glanders: Medicine and Veterinary Medicine in Common Pursuit of a Contagious Disease |journal=Medical History |date=1981 |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=363–84 |doi=10.1017/S0025727300034876 |pmid=7038356 |pmc=1139069}}</ref> Before the [[Battle of Blenheim]] in 1704, glanders may have afflicted and greatly diminished the horses of Marshal Tallard's cavalry, helping the Duke of Marlborough win the battle.<ref>{{cite journal |title=From The Other Side Of The Hill, Blenheim, 1704 |first=D. G. |last=Chandler |journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |publisher=Society for Army Historical Research |volume=41 |number=166 |date=June 1963 |pages=79–93 |quote=However, the incurable murrain[Footnote1] this regiment contracted whilst sharing winter quarters with the French Sommeri Regiment had already put most of the troopers on their own two feet ─ and shortly afterwards this contagion spread to the whole army under the name of the "German sickness" for want of a better diagnosis. [Footnote1] This disease was probably "glanders." Eventually it affected a large part of Tallard's cavalry. The general condition of Marlborough's cavalry at the end of the long march to the Danube contrasted very favourably with the fettle of the French. |jstor=44222485}}</ref> Glanders was a significant problem for civilian use of horses, as well. In the 18th-century veterinary hospital at the [[École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort|École Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort]], glanders was the most common disease among their equine patients and the one most likely to cause death.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heintzman |first1=Kit |title=A cabinet of the ordinary: domesticating veterinary education, 1766–1799 |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=239–260 |date=2018 |doi=10.1017/S0007087418000274 |pmid=29665887 |s2cid=4947361}}</ref> Due to the high mortality rate in humans and the small number of organisms required to establish infection, ''B. mallei'' is regarded as a potential [[biological warfare]] or [[bioterrorism]] agent, as is the closely related organism, ''B. pseudomallei'', the causative agent of [[melioidosis]]. During [[World War I]], glanders was believed to have been spread deliberately by [[German Empire|German]] agents to infect large numbers of [[Russian Empire|Russian]] horses and mules on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]].<ref name="Woods" /> [[Bioterrorism#History|Other agents]] attempted to introduce the disease in the United States and Argentina. This had an effect on troop and supply convoys, as well as on artillery movement, which were dependent on horses and mules. Human cases in Russia increased with the infections during and after WWI. The [[Japan]]ese deliberately infected horses, civilians, and prisoners of war with ''B. mallei'' at the [[Unit 731]] [[Pingfang]] (China) Institute and [[Unit 100]] facilities during [[World War II]]. The U.S. studied this agent as a possible biological weapon in 1943–44, but did not weaponize it. U.S. interest in glanders (agent LA) continued through the 1950s, except it had an inexplicable tendency to lose virulence in the lab, making it difficult to weaponize. Between 1982 and 1984, the [[Soviet Union]] allegedly used weaponized ''B. mallei'' during the [[Soviet–Afghan War]].<ref name="bmc" />
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