It is a disease caused by Bacillus Anthracis, a germ that lives in the soil. It is rare and affects animals such as cattle, sheep’s and goats and you can get anthrax by coming in contact with infected wool, meat or hides. There are three types of diseases caused by anthrax:

• CUTANEOUS: involves the skin and people with cuts and open sores can spread it by coming in contact with it.
• INHALATION: affects the lungs during inhalation of spores of the bacteria.
• GASTROINTESTINAL: affects your digestive system like for example on eating infected meat.

CAUSES:

It is a rod-shaped, gram-positive aerobic bacterium which was proved to cause the disease by Robert Koch and this bacteria can survive in soil for decades. Once u ingest this bacteria or it contacts through an open wound, the bacteria multiply inside the human and kills the host immune system by the production of exotoxin and lethal toxin and can cause death and it can spread through lymphatics. The mode of infection can be intestine, lungs, and skin

SYMPTOMS:

• CUTANEOUS: small blisters will be formed with swelling around it.
• INHALATIONAL: fever, chest pain, breathlessness
• GASTROINTESTINAL: nausea, diarrhea, pain in the abdomen, vomiting

DIAGNOSIS:

• Gram staining
• Polymerase chain reaction
• Immunofluorescence

TREATMENT:

• Thoroughly cleaning and decontamination by washing with antimicrobial soap and water.
• ANTIBIOTICS: oral and intravenous doses of vancomycin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline.
• MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES: like raxibacumab that neutralizes toxins by anthrax bacillus.