Anthrax General Disease Information Sheets What is Anthrax?

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.363.7139; http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Media_Center/docs/pdf/Disease_cards/ANTHRAX-EN.pdf

Anthrax is a disease caused by the spore-forming bacteria Bacillus anthracis. The name of the bacteria derives from the Greek word for coal, because of the ulcers with dark centers that develop on the skin of affected people. Anthrax occurs on all the continents, causes acute mortality in ruminants and is a zoonosis (a disease which primarily affects animals, but causes disease in humans). The bacteria produce extremely potent toxins which are responsible for the ill effects, causing a high mortality rate. While most mammals are susceptible, anthrax is typically a disease of ruminants and humans. 1 General Disease Information Sheets Where is the disease found? Anthrax is found all over the world on all continents except Antarctica. There are endemic areas with more frequent outbreaks, other areas are subject to sporadic outbreaks in response to unusual weather patterns which can cause spores that were dormant in the soil to come to the surface