Anthrax:一个严重的bacterialinfectioncaused by炭疽杆菌that occurs primarilyinanimals. Cattle, sheep, horses, mules, and some wild animals are highly susceptible. Humans and swine are generally quite resistant to anthrax. Humans become infected when the spores of B. anthracis enter the body by contact with animals infected with B. anthracis or from contact with contaminated animal products, insect bites, ingestion, or inhalation. Aerosolized ("weaponized") spores of B. anthracis can potentially be used (misused) for biological warfare and bioterrorism.Cutaneousanthrax is the most common form of thediseaseand is characterized by thedevelopmentof a localizedskinlesionwith acentralescharsurrounded by marked edema (swelling). Inhalation anthrax (woolsorters' disease) typically involveshemorrhagicmediastinitis (bleeding into the mid-chest), rapidlyprogressivesystemic(bodywide) infection, and carries a very highmortality rate.Gastrointestinalanthrax is much rarer but is also associated with a highmortalityrate.
Anthrax can, as mentioned, take different forms. One is thepulmonary(lung) form of the disease. It is contracted by inhaling a large dose of the anthrax spores, typically in an enclosed space protected from direct sunlight. (The spores are quickly killed by sunlight.) If pulmonary anthrax is untreated, it is usually fatal. An intestinal form of anthrax is caused by eating meat contaminated with anthrax.
But most human anthrax comes from skin contact with animal products contaminated by anthrax. Cutaneous (skin) anthrax was once well known among people who handled infected animals (farmers, woolsorters, tanners, brushmakers and carpetmakers in the days when the brushes and carpets were animal products).
The hallmark of skin anthrax is a carbuncle, a集群of boils, that ulcerates. Typically, the carbuncle has a hard black center surrounded by bright redinflammation. This dramatic appearance accounts for its name, "anthrax", the Greek word for "coal", a burning coal.
The cutaneous form of anthrax is treated with antibiotics such aspenicillin,tetracycline,erythromycin, andciprofloxacin(Cipro).
The pulmonary form of anthrax is an emergency and calls for early continuous IV antibiotics (such as penicillin in combination withstreptomycin).
There is an anthrax vaccine for persons at high risk (such as members of the armed forces). However, the only anthrax vaccine currently made in the USA is experiencing problems with production standardization.
Bioterrorism-- The General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigativearmof the US Congress, in a 1999 report considered anthrax as a "possible" biologic threat for terrorism, but noted that avirulentstrainof thebacteriumis difficult to acquire and that an attack would require sophistication to manufacture and disseminate thebacteria. The GAO considered thelethaleffects of anthrax to be "very high."
In the autumn of 2001, anthrax was no longer a "possible" biologic threat for terrorism. With its distribution through the mail in the US, anthrax became a 21st-century agent of bioterrorism.
