Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis) is the etiological agent of anthrax affecting both humans and animals. Anthrax toxin (AT) plays a major role in pathogenesis. It includes lethal toxin (LT) and edema toxin (ET), which are formed by the combination of protective antigen (PA) and lethal factor (LF) or edema factor (EF), respectively. The currently used human anthrax vaccine in China utilizes live...

Anthrax is a peracute, acute or subacute multispecies bacterial infection that occurs on many continents. It is one of the oldest infectious diseases known; the biblical fifth and sixth plagues (Exodus chapters 7 to 9) that affected first livestock and then humans were probably anthrax. From the earliest historical records until development of an effective vaccine midway through the 20th Centur...

The spores of the soil-borne bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax are highly resistant to adverse environmental conditions. Under ideal conditions, anthrax spores can survive for many years in the soil. Anthrax is known to be endemic in the northern part of Kruger National Park (KNP) in South Africa (SA), with occasional epidemics spreading southward. The aim of this study was to...

Anthrax is a zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis. It is potentially fatal and highly contagious disease. Herbivores are the natural host. Human acquire the disease incidentally by contact with infected animal or animal products. In the 18th century an epidemic destroyed approximately half of the sheep in Europe. In 1900 human inhalational anthrax occured sporadically in the United Sta...

Purpose: Cutaneous anthrax of the eyelid is a rare condition in clinical practice, but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of preseptal and orbital cellulitis. Here we report a case of palpebral anthrax. Case report: A 5-year-old girl with anthrax infection of the right upper eyelid is presented. Her eyelid showed an edematous, necrotic, and partially bullous lesion. Following co...

CDC and state and local public health authorities continue to investigate cases of bioterrorism-related anthrax. As of November 7, a total of 22 cases of anthrax have been identified according to the CDC surveillance case definition; 10 were confirmed inhalational anthrax cases and 12 cases (seven confirmed and five suspected) were cutaneous anthrax (Table 1). The majority of cases have occurre...

Although there exists in the U.K. a high degree of control of industrial and agricultural anthrax in man and anthrax in animals originating either from animal products or from materials contaminated by contact with them, total control of anthrax in this country seems unlikely to follow until the disease is eliminated from livestock in the enzootic areas abroad. This view rests on the probabilit...

Owens. What is the problem and what is known about it so far? Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that can survive for years as spores. It is usually found in animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats. Although human cases are uncommon in the United States, people can get anthrax by inhaling spores from infected animals or animal products. Anthrax leads to breathing problems, se...

The anti-PA IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 subclass responses to clinical anthrax and to different numbers of anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA, BioThrax) injections were determined in a cross-sectional study of sera from 63 vaccinees and 13 clinical anthrax patients. The data show that both vaccination with three AVA injections and clinical anthrax elicit anti-PA IgG1, IgG2, and IgG3 subclass response...