What Is Anthrax?

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Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Also Included In: Bio-terrorism / Terrorism;  Public Health
Article Date: 10 Feb 2006 - 19:00 PDT

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Anthrax is an infection caused by a bacterium. (The plural of bacterium is bacteria). The bacterium is called Bacillus Anthracis.

Anthrax is the name of the infection or the disease. Bacillus Anthracis is the name of the bacterium that causes the infection.

Bacillus Anthracis exists in animals that eat grass, such as cows and sheep. It is most commonly found in the farming areas of Asia, South America, Africa, the Caribbean and southern and eastern Europe.

Bacillus Anthracis makes spores. These spores can stay in the soil for a very long time - they lay dormant. When the environment is right, they can germinate and cause infection - anthrax. They ideally germinate and cause infection in the:

1. Skin (Cutaneous anthrax)
Can be treated successfully with antibiotics if administered early enough

Most common. Accounts for 95% of all anthrax infections. People at risk of infection may work in abbatoirs (slaughterhouses), tanning workshops, places preparing wool, hides or leather. The worker can become infected if he/she has a skin cut.
There is only a risk if the animals had been infected.

Symptoms are usually an ulcer that develops on the skin, about 1 to 3 centimetres wide. Within a week the centre of the ulcer becomes black. Without treatment, a complication may be blood poisoning (20% death rate).

2. Lungs (Inhalational anthrax)
Can be treated successfully with antibiotics if administered early enough

The bigger spores get stuck in the windpipe or throat. The smaller ones end up in the lungs. Haemorrhaging takes place as well as tissue decay.

Symptoms are similar to a mild flu, which may include fatigue, weakness, high temperature, dry cough and a pain in the chest. Without treatment breathing becomes much more difficult and the patient's lungs start to bleed. If allowed to reach this stage the anthrax is generally fatal.

3. Intestinal Anthrax
Can be treated successfully with antibiotics if administered early enough

This type of anthrax is a very uncommon type of food poisoning. It can happen after eating contaminated meat.

Symptoms include nausea, high temperature, loss of appetite and vomiting. This develops into stomach pains, vomiting blood and severe diarrhoea.

This is the most fatal of the three anthraxes.

In all three cases the patient does not need to be quarantined.

Although we hear a lot about anthrax in the news, it is in fact, a very rare disease. It infects animals much more than it does humans. No one has died from anthrax infection in the UK since 1974 - then it was a case of inhalational anthrax (lungs).

There have been human cases of cutaneuous anthrax in the UK, but nobody died from it.

Who should get vaccinated against anthrax?

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (USA) has recommended anthrax vaccination for the following groups:

-- Persons who work directly with the organism in the laboratory -- Persons who work with imported animal hides or furs in areas where standards are insufficient to prevent exposure to anthrax spores.

-- Persons who handle potentially infected animal products in high-incidence areas. (Incidence is low in the United States, but veterinarians who travel to work in other countries where incidence is higher should consider being vaccinated.)

-- Military personnel deployed to areas with high risk for exposure to the organism (as when it is used as a biological warfare weapon).

The anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program in the U.S. Army Surgeon General's Office can be reached at 1-877-GETVACC (1-877-438-8222). www.anthrax.osd.mil

Pregnant women should be vaccinated only if absolutely necessary.

Why is anthrax so often in the news?

Biological weapons are maintained by several countries around the world. Use of these weapons could cause widespread illness among unprotected military forces.

Anthrax is the biological weapon most likely to be encountered by military personnel because it is extremely lethal, easy to produce in large quantities, easy to store and not too difficult to develop as a biological weapon.

The worry today is that terrorists may one day use anthrax as a weapon.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today