Anthrax

Medical Author: Michael C. Fishbein, MD
Medical Editor: William C Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

• What is anthrax?
• What causes anthrax?
• How is anthrax contracted?
• How common is anthrax?
• How long is the incubation period with anthrax?
• What kinds of diseases does anthrax cause?
• How is the diagnosis made of anthrax?
• How is anthrax treated?
• How can anthrax be prevented?
• Anthrax At A Glance

Anthrax - From Russia with Love Medical Author: Michael C. Fishbein, MD Previous Medical Editor: Leslie J. Schoenfield, MD, PhD Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD This article recounts the chilling, yet fascinating story of the deadliest outbreak of anthrax in recorded history. Anthrax is a bacterium (germ) that can cause a serious, sometimes fatal infection. Anthrax can be used as a weapon. In 2001, anthrax was spread through the mail in a powder. Twenty-two people were infected. The events that occurred in Sverdlovsk, Russia, in 1979 demonstrate what can happen when anthrax is released into the air. The Outbreak This was the ninth day of the mysterious, fatal epidemic that struck Sverdlovsk in early April of 1979. Autopsies already had been performed on 37 victims who died of an unknown disease. Yet neither the clinicians nor the pathologists had identified the cause of the epidemic. Moreover, as you can imagine, the members of the pathology department were frustrated and overburdened with work. So, on this day, Dr. Faina Abramova, who had been chief of pathology at hospital #40, returned from retirement to help perform the autopsies. The first autopsy Dr. Abramova performed was number 38 of the 42 ultimately performed by the local pathologists. The patient was a 43-year-old man who had had weakness and fever for two days. He was admitted to the hospital where he died four days later. At the autopsy table, Dr. Abramova was struck by the crimson color of the membranes (meninges) covering the man's brain. In her description, she referred to this covering as the "cardinal's cap" because of its color and location. Astonishingly, she recognized this finding as characteristic of anthrax infection. (Few doctors have ever seen the disease anthrax.) In fact, her diagnosis was based on her recollection of a brain specimen from a patient with anthrax on display in a museum at her medical school. Read on to learn how the anthrax was transmitted » Top Searched Anthrax Terms: vaccine, history, facts, cause of, symptoms, skin, powder, bacillus anthracis, prevention, who discovered anthrax, effects, inhalation, how is anthrax transmitted, statistics, treated, contagious, three major types of anthrax

What is anthrax?

Anthrax is a life-threatening infectious disease that normally affects animals, especially ruminants (such as goats, cattle, sheep, and horses). Anthrax can be transmitted to humans by contact with infected animals or their products or by biological warfare. Anthrax does not spread from person to person.

What causes anthrax?

The agent of anthrax is a bacterium called Bacillus anthracis. The bacteria look like large rods under the microscope. However, in the soil and other places, anthrax exists in a dormant form called spores. These spores are very hardy and difficult to destroy. The spores have been known to survive in the soil for as long as 48 years.

How is anthrax contracted?

Anthrax can infect humans in three ways. The most common is infection through the skin, which causes an ugly sore that usually goes away without treatment. Humans and animals can ingest anthrax from carcasses of dead animals that have been contaminated with anthrax. Ingestion of anthrax can cause serious, sometimes fatal disease. The most deadly form is inhalation anthrax. If the spores of anthrax are inhaled, they migrate to lymph glands in the chest where they proliferate, spread, and produce toxins that often cause death.

How common is anthrax?

Anthrax is now rare in humans in the United States and developed countries. It still occurs today largely in countries lacking public-health regulations that prevent exposure to infected goats, cattle, sheep, and horses and their products. The major concern for those of us in western countries is the use of anthrax as an agent of biological warfare.

How long is the incubation period with anthrax?

The incubation period (the period between contact with anthrax and the start of symptoms) may be relatively short, from one to five days. Like other infectious diseases, the incubation period for anthrax is quite variable and it may be weeks before an infected individual feels sick.

What kinds of diseases does anthrax cause?

There are three forms of disease caused by anthrax: cutaneous (skin) anthrax, inhalation anthrax, and gastrointestinal (intestinal) anthrax.

CUTANEOUS ANTHRAX

The cutaneous (skin) form of anthrax starts as a red-brown raised spot that enlarges with considerable redness around it, blistering, and hardening. The center of the spot then shows an ulcer crater with blood-tinged drainage and the formation of a black crust called an eschar. There are swollen glands (lymph nodes) in the area, and there may be muscle aching and pain, headache, fever, nausea, and vomiting. The illness usually resolves in about six weeks.

INHALATION ANTHRAX

The first symptoms are subtle, gradual and much like flu (influenza). In a few days, however, the illness worsens and there may be severe respiratory distress. shock, coma, and death follow. Inhalation anthrax does not cause a true pneumonia. In fact, the spores get picked in the lungs up by scavenger cells called macrophages. Most of the spores are killed. Unfortunately, some survive and are transported to glands in the chest call lymph nodes. In the lymph nodes, the spores that survive multiply, produce deadly toxins, and spread throughout the body. Severe hemorrhage and tissue death (necrosis) occurs in these lymph nodes in the chest. From there, the disease spreads to the adjacent lungs and the rest of the body.

GASTROINTESTINAL ANTHRAX

Now rare, anthrax of the bowels (gastrointestinal anthrax) is the result of eating undercooked, contaminated meat. The symptoms of this form of anthrax include nausea, loss of appetite, bloody diarrhea and fever followed by abdominal pain. The bacteria invade through the bowel wall. Then the infection spreads throughout the body through the bloodstream (septicemia) with deadly toxicity.

From the Doctors at MedicineNet.com

Chest X-ray - A chest x-ray is a radiology test that involves exposing the chest briefly to radiation to produce an image of the chest and the internal organs of the chest. chest x-ray can be used to define abnormalities of the lungs such as excessive fluid, pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, cysts, and cancers. Source:MedicineNet Healthcare Issues - Healthcare Issues Center: Read doctor's views, health features, procedures & tests, diseases and conditions and health news on MedicineNet.com. Source:MedicineNet Read 55 more Anthrax related articles ... Researchers Pursuing Nasal Anthrax Vaccine Many States Still Fall Short in Emergency Preparedness: Report