Anthrax spores  (AP)

Facts about anthrax

What is anthrax?
Use as a weapon
Is there a vaccine?
Types of anthrax

What is anthrax?
An infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacteria bacillus anthracis, anthrax is most commonly found in agricultural regions where it can infect wild and domestic livestock. It is not contagious.
Read more about the disease

Use as a weapon
Anthrax is highly lethal, easy to store, and able to be survive for decades, making it a top candidate for use as a biological weapon. Given the right wind and weather conditions, it is possible to release a lethal cloud of colorless, odorless anthrax spores over a population center that would likely remain undetected until people began reporting symptoms.
See graphic

Is there a vaccine?
Yes. Licensed in 1970 and produced by Michigan-based BioPort Corp., the United States began mandatory vaccination for all US active- and reserve-duty military personnel in 1998. Because of limited supplies and production capacity, however, the vaccine is not available for general civilian use.
Overview of anthrax-fighting drugs

Types of anthrax

Cutaneous

The type of anthrax contracted by television and newspaper employees in New York and various postal workers, 95 percent of anthrax infections occur this way. It is contracted when bacteria enters a cut on the skin.

Symptoms: A painless blister that is red around the edges, which after one or two days becomes a black open sore. The sore dries up to become a black scab, which falls off after a week or two.
Treatment: While the sore often clears up on its own, treatment with antibiotics is recommended. When treated with antibiotics, death is rare.

Inhalation

Caused by breathing anthrax spores, it is the most deadly form and often linked to biological warfare. It caused the deaths of a Florida newspaper employee and postal workers in Washington.

Symptoms: May develop within two days of exposure, but could develop as much as six to eight weeks later. Early symptoms resemble a cold, with fever and cough. Once symptoms begin, death usually follows within one to three days, as the lungs fill with fluid and the victim suffocates.
Treatment: Antibiotic treatment should begin before symptoms develop. However, high-dose antibiotic treatment after symptoms appear can lower the death rate from 99 to about 80 percent.

Gastrointestinal

Gastrointestinal anthrax is a rare form caused by consuming contaminated meat, which leads to acute inflammation of the intestinal tract.

Symptoms: Nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, fever are followed by abdominal pain, vomiting of blood, and severe diarrhea.
Treatment: Antibiotics are recommended, but because of the difficulty of early diagnosis, gastro-intestinal anthrax is likely to cause death in 25 to 60 percent of cases.

Globe Staff Graphic