Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis

Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis General Information

What causes the anthrax disease is a facultative anaerobic spore that forms a bacterium widely known as bacillus anthracis. This organism is a natural soil-dwelling bacterium, an endospore forming one. The size of this kind of organism is ranges from 1 to 5. It was first recognized as the cause of this disease by R. Koch. The name of the species, anthracis, comes from the Greek anthrakis and it means coal. This term refers to the form of the anthrax disease that is the most commonly experienced by patients, Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis. In this disease, large black skin lesions form on the skin surface. Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis is considered to be an infection that is caused in when the bacterium comes into direct contact with non-intact skin. This disease is also known as Anthrax-skin. Inhaling or eating anthrax spores are the main causes of the infections of livestock. Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis is characteristic for humans, especially farmers or other persons who work in slaughter-houses. They all develop the disease through skin after they have been exposed to infected animals. This kind of bacteria is considered to be a very powerful biological weapon although the experts in bio-terrorism have concluded that the anthrax bacteria can not be used as an effective weapon on large scales because, technologically speaking, it is very difficult to produce efficient disasters with it. This type of infection is characteristic in the epidemic areas or in clusters. Outbreaks of the anthrax disease were reported, in the last ten years in Midnapore, Mysore and Kolar.

Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis Symptoms

Anthrax affects mainly the hoofed animals (goats or sheep), but it can also affect humans. Usually, Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis occurs when a person touches animal products that were infected, such as: hair, wool, hide and bones. This skin disease appears after the bacterium was in contact with a scrape or cut on the skin. After 15 days after the bacteria had entered the organism, itchy sores, similar to an insect bite, develop on the skin. The sore blisters and may form a black ulcer that is not painless all the time, but it is surrounded by major swellings. Soon, a scab can appear, but after a while (15 days), it dries and falls off. In some cases, a general ill feeling, along with headache, painful lymph nodes and fever may be present. During the first appearance of Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis, this medical condition is characterized by some bumps or papules that are red and small and appear at the site of the infection. In a day or two the bump transforms into a blister that is filled with a liquid that will rupture at a moment in time. This disease can have further complications. For example, if it has spread through the bloodstream where it releases some deadly toxins, it can lead to shock and finally, to death. If it is not discovered and treated on time, this cutaneous disorder can be fatal in 15% of the cases. But, even if you proceed with an adequate treatment, the surface with dead skin will sometimes continue to evolve.

Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis Treatment

If you know you have been exposed to the microorganism causing Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis and if you see that lesions as we have described above appear on your skin, we advise you to call your health care provider and arrange an emergency medical examination. Usually, the disorder is diagnosed with the help of a culture of the skin lesions. This enables physicians to observe the presence of Bacillus anthracis bacterium. If you are suspected of having Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis, the doctor may want to measure your levels specific antibodies from your bloodstream. Some of the most common laboratory tests that are performed in this stage of the diagnosis are: immunoblots, PCR or ELISA. The doctor may want to see some analysis of your nasal swabs that may indicate if the individual was indeed exposed to spores of anthrax. But the final diagnose is put after a combination of tests is done and the presence of symptoms is carefully analyzed. After seeing you, your health care provider might ask you to consult a dermatologist. This doctor is specialized in skin disorders such as this one. Although the disease is not a fatal one, if it is left untreated it can lead to the death of the individual as to many other infections. But if the patient will receive the therapy with the adequate antibiotics there is a big chance that he or she will fully recover.

Any form of anthrax is considered to be notifiable, as the disease is of public health importance. This is why, once the diagnosis of Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis is established in one person it must be reported to surrounding villages for surveillance in the case of a bio-terrorism attack. The organism’s response to some of the antibiotics is really good. It this case, the mortality rate is even under 1%. All the infections with B. anthracis can be treated with penicillin, amoxicillin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, Tetracycline, doxycyline, chloramphenicol and any other antibiotics that are effective against a Gram-positive bacterium. During a suspected anthrax outbreak, ciprofloxacin is considered to be the best choice. In general, the lesions caused by this disease heal without scar formation. If the treatment is received on time, a full recovery from Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis is assured. So, we must say that the prognosis (expectations) is really excellent. When a therapy based on antibiotics is given on time death is very rare. The length of a treatment lasts for 2 months because the spores of anthrax usually need up to 60 days to become fully developed. These results are very rapid and efficient. If you are infected there is a low risk for others to develop Cutaneous Bacillus Anthracis because this disease does not spread from person to person by simple sneezing, coughing, sharing a space or by casual contact. So, if you have been in contact with a person that has this skin disease you should not worry; you can get infected only if you have been exposed to the same source. Also, if you only have been exposed but you do not present any sign or symptom, we recommend you to take, preventively, the antibiotics recommended by your physician.