Anthrax

What is it

Anthrax is a disease, of course.It is a very dangerous potentially disease It is caused by Bacteria called Bacillus

anthracis.

Neither a bacterial or virus. It’s an infectious disease caused by bacteria.

What type of disease is it?

Anthrax is Neither a bacterial or virus. It’s an infection caused by bacteria.

Anthrax is caused by a type of bacteria called Bacillus anthracis.

Who commonly suffers from the disease?

Anthrax commonly affects animals such as sheep, cattle, and goats.

but humans who come into contact with infected animals can get sick from anthrax too.

In the past, the people who were most at risk for anthrax included farm workers, veterinarians, and tannery and wool workers.

What are the signs and symptoms of the disease

Because there are different types of infections the symptoms vary.

Symptoms of cutaneous anthrax (skin) start 1 to 7 days after exposure: An itchy sore develops that is similar to an insect bite. This sore may blister and form

a black ulcer (sore). The sore is usually painless, but it is often surrounded by swelling. A scab often forms, and then dries and falls off within 2 weeks. Complete healing can

take longer.

Symptoms of inhalation anthrax (lungs): Begins with fever, malaise, headache, cough, shortness of breath, and chest pain Fever and shock may occur later

Symptoms of gastrointestinal (intestines) anthrax usually occur within 1 week and may include:

Abdominal pain Bloody diarrhea Diarrhea Fever Mouth sores Nausea and vomiting (the vomit may contain blood)

What is the treatment of the disease

Most people with anthrax are treated with antibiotics. Several antibiotics are effective, including penicillin, doxycycline and ciprofloxacin.

When treating inhalational anthrax, a combination of antibiotics should be used. The length of treatment is about 60 days for people who have been exposed to anthrax, because it may take spores that long to germinate.

Cutaneous (skin) anthrax is treated with antibiotics taken by mouth, usually for 7 to 10 days. Doxycycline and ciproflaxin are most often used.

When treated with antibiotics, cutaneous anthrax is likely to get better. However, up to 20% of people who do not get treatment may die if anthrax spreads to the blood.

People with second-stage inhalation anthrax have a poor outlook, even with antibiotic therapy. Up to 90% of cases in the second stage are fatal.

Gastrointestinal anthrax infection can spread to the bloodstream, and may result in death.

Can it be cured

Anthrax can be cured, slowly but surely through strong antibiotics you can kill the virus that is anthrax. It has been around for a while and the percentage rate of living after infection is fairly high unless it is inhaled.

Vaccines are also used to prepare our body’s for the virus.

Impacts on society

The impact on our society is not very significant, Anthrax isn’t a very common disease found in Australia and we are protected by vaccines.

Although Anthrax can last for a very long time, some cases have shown that the bacteria that causes Anthrax have lived up to 70 years after killing a host.

So although it may not have been seen for over 10 years in a specific spot, Bacillus anthracis may still be lurking around.

Anthrax has also been used and continues to be used as a weapon for biological warfare. This can lead to some serious negative impacts on any society.

Also for people that live in country’s that don’t provide a lot of medical support such as 3rd world countries. You aren’t very protected of infection of Anthrax and the death rate from infection would be at a close 100%.

Instances of the disease increased or decreased over the years?

Now cases of Anthrax has significantly decreased. Thousands of people used to perish under the infection before the 20th century, in concentration camps the cases of Anthrax was significant but now to the rise and improvement of antibiotics and medical technology Anthrax is on a decrease.

Anthrax still has the potential though to increase again from governments and rebels using it as a biological weapon.

Is the disease more common in certain parts of the world than others?

The disease is definitely more common in other parts of the world.

3rd world and developing country's with a large population causes Anthrax to have a much higher infection rate.

Through improvement and availability of medical Antibiotics and vaccines in these countries Anthrax can be decreased as well as the amount of infections and fatalities.

Bibliography

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/anthrax/article_em.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002301/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthrax#Treatment