Home | Non-food | Disease | Understand Anthrax

Understand Anthrax

01/31/2010 19:35:00 admin

Font size:

Last December it was reported on foodconsumer.org that a 25-year old New Hampshire woman came down with gastrointestinal anthrax after attending a monthly drum circle at United Campus Ministry.

ABC News now reported that the drums that use animal hides are the officially suspected source of the infection that sickened the woman. The instruments tested positive for the spores of the pathogenic bacteria called Bacillus anthracis.

It was reported that the woman didn't touch any drum. Instead she was the first to volunteer to dance. Days after she was back home, she was in critical condition and diagnosed with anthrax.

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming B. Anthracis, which is found in wild and domestic vertebrates like cattle, sheep, goats, camels, antelopes, and other herbivores.

Anthrax mostly affects animals, but people who handle infectious animals or tissue from infectious animals are at high risk of the disease.

Anthrax can occur in three forms: cutaneous, inhalation and gastrointestinal. Health officials do not understand that the woman got gastrointestinal anthrax. It could be easier to imagine she got infected with the disease through skin contact or inhalation of spores. It is unknown whether she ate anything.

Many people will not stop going to drum circles just because the bacterial spores may be released from the drums, according to ABC News.

However, people need to be aware of the risk because anthrax is highly lethal. It can save lives if the disease gets treated early. Note that symptoms manifest often within 7 days of exposure to spores depending upon the way they are acquired.

In the case of skin infection, pay attention to a raised itchy bump that is similar to an insect bite, but within 1 to 2 days, it develops into a vesicle and then a painless ulcer. Untreated, 20 percent of patients will die. This type of infection is easy to deal with. Appropriate antibacterial therapy may completely prevent deaths.

In the case of inhalation anthrax, the infected person may experience something like a common cold. After several days, the symptoms may progress to severe breathing difficulty and shock. This type is usually fatal even if antibiotics are used. It can kill 45 percent of patients.

Internal anthrax occurs when a person ingests contaminated meat. It causes acute inflammation of the intestinal tract. The symptoms include nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, fever, and later abdominal pain, vomiting of blood, and sever diarrhea. The death rate is between 25 and 60 percent.

Although highly risky, anthrax rarely spreads from person to person except in cases of cutaneous anthrax.

By David Liu

Add to: Add to your del.icio.us