Overview of Anthrax

What is Anthrax

The spore-forming bacteria Bacillus anthrax causes anthrax, a deadly infectious disease caused by gram-positive bacteria. People can become ill with anthrax if they come into touch with infected animals or contaminated animal products. Anthrax can be found naturally in soil and affects domestic and wild animals all over the world. Both humans and animals can become very ill as a result of anthrax.

What causes Anthrax

Anthrax can be contracted through indirect or direct contact with anthrax spores, such as touching, breathing, or swallowing them. The bacteria proliferate, spread, and create toxins after anthrax spores enter your body and activate. Anthrax can be transmitted to humans through animals or biological weapons.

Humans can get anthrax through

• exposure to infected grazing animals (domestic or wild)
• animal goods affected with the disease, such as wool or hides
• spore inhalation, usually during the preparation of tainted animal products (inhalation anthrax)
• meat from sick animals that hasn’t been fully cooked (gastrointestinal anthrax)

Why is anthrax so dangerous

Anthrax is one of the most likely agents to be employed in a biological attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Trusted Source. This is due to the fact that it is simple to disseminate (spread) and might result in widespread disease and death.

Here are some other reasons why anthrax makes an effective agent for a bioterrorist attack

• It’s easily found in nature.
• It can be produced in a lab.
• It can withstand harsh storage conditions for a long time.
• It’s been weaponized before.
• It can be simply dispersed as a powder or a spray without attracting undue attention.
• Anthrax spores are quite small. They may be undetectable to the senses of taste, smell, or sight.

Signs of anthrax in livestock

Animals may display signs of a high fever just before they die. The nose, mouth, and anus of carcasses may have blood on them. Because you may not notice this symptom in many cases, it should not be used to diagnose anthrax. Even if there is no history of anthrax on the site, anthrax could be the cause of abrupt livestock death.

Cattle and sheep with anthrax generally die suddenly.

To avoid a large-scale anthrax outbreak, it’s crucial that carcasses of cattle and sheep that die suddenly for no apparent reason are tested for anthrax before being transferred. If anthrax is confirmed, this lessens the risk of human exposure and contamination of the damaged property.

Who’s at risk for anthrax

Anthrax illness is more common in farm animals than people.

Humans have an increased risk of getting anthrax if they

• work with anthrax in a laboratory.
• work with livestock as a veterinarian.
• handle animal skins from areas with a high risk of anthrax.
• handle grazing game animals.
• Are serving in the military and are stationed in a region where anthrax exposure is a significant risk.
• While anthrax can be transmitted to humans via contact with animals, it’s not spread through human-to-human contact.

What are the symptoms of Anthrax

The symptoms of anthrax exposure depend on the mode of contact.

Cutaneous (skin) contact

• Cutaneous anthrax is anthrax that is contracted by skin contact.
• If you come into touch with anthrax, you may develop a tiny, itching sore on your skin. It resembles an insect bite most of the time.
• The pain turns into a blister very rapidly. It eventually turns into a black-centered skin ulcer. This normally does not result in any discomfort.
• The symptoms usually appear one to five days following the exposure.

Inhalation

• Inhaling anthrax usually results in symptoms within a week. However, symptoms can appear as soon as two days after exposure and can last up to 45 days.
• Cold symptoms, sore throat, fever, achy muscles, cough, shortness of breath, exhaustion, shivering, chills, and vomiting are all signs of inhalation anthrax.

Ingestion

• The symptoms of gastrointestinal anthrax usually develop within a week of exposure.
• Symptoms of anthrax ingestion include: Fever, loss of appetite, nausea, severe stomach pain, swelling in the neck, bloody diarrhea.

How is anthrax diagnosed

Tests used to diagnose anthrax include

• blood tests, skin tests, stool samples.
• spinal tap, a procedure that tests a small amount of the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord
• chest X-rays, CT scan.
• endoscopy, a test that uses a small tube with an attached camera to examine the esophagus or intestines.
• If your doctor detects anthrax in your body, the test results will be sent to a public health department laboratory for confirmation.

How is anthrax treated

Treatment for anthrax depends if you’ve developed symptoms or not. If you’ve been exposed to anthrax but don’t have any symptoms, your doctor will start treating you for it. Antibiotics and the anthrax vaccine are used as preventative measures (Penicillin, doxycycline, and ciprofloxacin are the primary antibiotics recommended for treatment).

How to Prevent Anthrax

Anthrax is extremely rare, and most individuals will never come into contact with it. Although anthrax is preventable with a vaccine, it is only advised for routine use in certain categories of at-risk adults (for example, some members of the military and laboratory workers).

Preventing anthrax during travel

Visitors visiting locations where anthrax is endemic or where an animal epidemic is underway can contract the disease if they come into contact with infected animal carcasses or eat meat from sick animals when they were slaughtered. Handling animal materials, such as hides, or products made from those animal parts, such as animal hide drums, can also make them sick. If you’re visiting these places, stay away from raw or undercooked meat, as well as livestock, animal products, and animal carcasses.

Preventing anthrax from animal hides

A number of anthrax cases have been linked to imported animal hides. Drum makers who use these hides have had problems. People who have handled or been near the drums, or in the setting where they were created, have also been affected. Some imported hides may contain anthrax spores, and although this is rare, there is no way to test for the presence of spores on hides.