Anthrax – How Do People Get It?
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Anthrax is a lethal disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis and forms spores that can lay dormant for centuries. Anthrax spores can be found all over the world, including Antarctica. Typically when the spores are inhaled or come into contact with human skin with lesions, they reactivate and multiply at rapid speeds. It is not uncommon for anthrax to infect domestic and wild animals that come into contact with it while grazing. These animals can spread the disease to humans by eating their flesh or with direct contact. Simply put, it grows and spreads itself everywhere. Anthrax sound no different than any other deadly disease, so why does it have people everywhere so frightened? Easy, because it has been turned into a biological weapon.
Most cases of anthrax occur from skin contact. Once the spores are in the lesion, such as a mosquito bite, the lesion turns into a black, almost dead tissue looking boil. It is painless but may be associated with some itching. If anthrax strikes in this manner, it must be treated or else there is a 20 percent chance of death. Less common, but an extremely deadly way to be stricken with the disease is to inhale the spores. Usually this type of anthrax results in death with the median being 8 days. Ingestion anthrax by eating the flesh of an infected animal is extremely rare however there is about a 20 to 50 percent chance of death in this instance. Anthrax poisoning is treated with antibiotics.
Up until recently, anthrax had killed tens of thousands of humans and animals worldwide. Those who handle animals for fur, horns and meat are at highest risk for the disease. Recent cases of anthrax poisoning in the United States was in 2008, where two victims contacted the disease from an African drum that was made from the hides of goats. One interesting fact, even though wild carnivores and scavengers eat the flesh of anthrax infected animals, they do not contact the disease. Typically the disease is more common in undeveloped countries where human and veterinary care are not wide spread. It is understandable by the world has been on a complete panic alert when they hear the word anthrax. There is a vaccine for it, however it comes as a series of injections and must be reissued every year. The Vaccine has a 93 percent effectiveness, however this is only available to our military personnel.
