ANTHRAX IN AMERICA 2001-2003
INTRODUCTION
Anthrax in North America is astonishingly rare. Before 2001, the most recent fatal case of inhalation anthrax in America was in 1976, when a craftsman acquired the disease from imported yarn. Prior to that, a minor mill outbreak in the 1960s occurred. Few physicians had, or have, any experience in detecting or caring for this condition. Even veterinarians rarely encounter this problem, despite the natural occurrence of anthrax in the soil in many areas of North America.
In the recent outbreak, the postal service acted as a vector of this disease. Bacterial spores bound to silica and placed in pharmaceutically folded paper leaked through the paper and envelope. As a result, there were 22 cases of anthrax. Eleven were of inhalation anthrax of which five were fatal; 11 were cutaneous (seven confirmed, four suspected). It has also been suggested that one of the suspected inhalational anthrax cases represents “aborted anthrax” whereby partial treatment of the disease effected the course of the illness. official canadian pharmacy
B. anthracis is derived from the Greek word for coal (anthrakis) due to the black skin lesions it causes. Anthrax has been around for a long time throughout history. Two of the biblical plagues are consistent with anthrax; it has been described by Virgil in his Georgics among domesticated wild animals. It was also the first disease identified as being of microbial origin by Robert Koch in 1876. Inhalation anthrax first occurred among wool-sorters in England and may represent the first occupational respiratory disease. The Russians have used anthrax as a weapon, and an accidental release in 1979 of anthrax spores resulted in many deaths.