General Information about Anthrax

The disease Anthrax derives its name from the Greek word anthracis, which means “coal”. This name is in response to the “characteristic black, coal-like central regions located on the anthrax skin lesions…” that appear in the cutaneous (tissue) form of the disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)). Although the 2001 letter attacks brought it widespread attention, anthrax has been around throughout history in many different areas. For example, the fifth and/or sixth plagues of Egypt that occurred during the time of Moses (1250 B.C.) are thought to represent the “earliest historical reports of the disease, due to the systemic and cutaneous forms of the disease”(Turnbull). In addition, its appearance has been noted in areas such as Asia Minor during the siege of Troy and its description has been found in the works of many famous authors such as Homer, Hippocrates, Varro, Virgil, and Galen. This leads to the idea that “…the Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with it” (Turnbull). From then on its appearance may have occurred in France, England, Germany, Hungary and Poland. It wasn’t until the 1700’s when its appearance was reported in America in animals. And within the next 100 years or so, Anthrax was being used by biologists to help with the progression of science. Robert Koch, in 1876, established Bacillus anthracis as the first proven bacterial cause of a human disease. His work led to the “…development of Koch’s Postulates, a set of diagnostic criteria still used by microbiologists today” (Nester). Also, the vaccine for anthrax, developed by Louis Pasteur in 1881, was the first effective live vaccine for a bacterial disease. All of these reported accounts, as well as other scientist journals in the late 1700’s and 1800’s, show that this disease is not new to the human race.

Anthrax is a highly infectious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis that infects animals including humans. The disease is more common in large herbivores but can also infect humans who are exposed to diseased animal tissue or bacterial spores of the disease. These herbivores include cattle, sheep, horses, goats, and pigs as well as wild populations of deer, elephants, buffalo, and others. “Incidents of anthrax among animals have been reported by 82 countries”, however, these countries are limited to those with weak public veterinary health programs (Friedlander). Therefore, humans who live in these countries are of high-risk of acquiring the disease through different means of transmission.