Glanders, one of the oldest known zoonotic infectious diseases, is caused by the bacterium Burkholderia mallei. Infection with B. mallei can cause clinical signs in horses after an incubation time of three to five days or longer.

The disease is widespread in several countries in South America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. During the last five years, cases were reported from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Germany, Kuwait, Lebanon, Brazil, Mongolia, Myanmar, Eritrea, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia.

Notification to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) is compulsory for OIE-member states. Impacted countries face rigorous restrictions in international trade of equids and their products for at least six months.

In 2014, after 60 years of disease freedom, Germany identified a glanders positive horse. Glanders had been considered eradicated in Western Europe since the 1960s. This initiated an international discussion concerning adequate methods to confirm infection or disease