BACKGROUND Bacillus species are spore-forming bacteria that are ubiquitous in the environment and display a range of virulent and avirulent phenotypes. This range is particularly evident in the Bacillus cereus sensu lato group; where closely related strains cause anthrax, food-borne illnesses, and pneumonia, but can also be non-pathogenic. Although much of this phenotypic range can be attribute...

Bacterial endospore dormancy and resistance properties depend on the relative dehydration of the spore core, which is maintained by the spore membrane and its surrounding cortex peptidoglycan wall. During spore germination, the cortex peptidoglycan is rapidly hydrolyzed by lytic enzymes packaged into the dormant spore. The peptidoglycan structures in both dormant and germinating Bacillus anthra...

The roles of interleukin-17 (IL-17) and neutrophils in the lung have been described as those of two intricate but independent players. Here we identify neutrophils as the primary IL-17-secreting subset of cells in a model of inhalation anthrax using A/J and C57BL/6 mice. With IL-17 receptor A knockout (IL-17RA-/-) mice, we confirmed that IL-17A/F signaling is instrumental in the self-recruitmen...

The innate immune system in humans consists of both cellular and humoral components that collaborate to eradicate invading bacteria from the body. Here, we discover that the gram-positive bacterium Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, does not grow in human serum. Fractionation of serum by gel filtration chromatography led to the identification of human transferrin as the inhibit...

BACKGROUND Cutaneous infection is the most common form of human anthrax, but little is known about Bacillus anthracis spore germination in these infections. METHODS We used experimental inoculations of B. anthracis Sterne spores or vegetative bacilli onto intact or abraded mouse flank skin, followed by evaluation of the infections and enumeration of germinating spores and vegetative bacilli. ...

background: bacillus anthracis may usually cause three forms of anthrax: inhalation, gastrointestinal and cutaneous. the gastrointestinal (gi) anthrax develops after eating contaminated meat. thus, in this paper were report 5 cases of intestinal anthrax. case presentation: we report a case series of intestinal anthrax, with history of consumption of raw or poorly cooked liver of sheep. one pati...

Phagocytes generate nitric oxide (NO) and other reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in large quantities to combat infecting bacteria. Here, we report the surprising observation that in vivo survival of a notorious pathogen-Bacillus anthracis-critically depends on its own NO-synthase (bNOS) activity. Anthrax spores (Sterne strain) deficient in bNOS lose their virulence in an A/J mouse model of ...

This study compared the sensitivity of spores from virulent and attenuated Bacillus anthracis strains in suspension to inactivation by various chemical disinfectants. Spore suspensions from two virulent strains (A0256 and A0372) and two attenuated strains (Sterne and A0141) of B. anthracis were tested against two aldehyde-based disinfectants and one hypochlorite-based disinfectant. A novel stat...