Bacillus Anthracis
Jaylene Faulkner
Microbiology
Barbara Hayes
November 6, 2015

Imagine being in the woods hunting a buck that’s grazing in the field. You pick your gun up and shoot the deer. You are ecstatic about your kill, your first plan for the meat is to make Venice stew. What you did not know was the buck had ingested a Bacillus Anthracis spore at some point in that week. Once you eat the deer meat, you will also ingest the Bacillus Anthracis and soon you will become infected with gastrointestinal anthrax. The Bacillus Anthracis is a gram positive rod shaped bacteria that will cause anthrax disease if ingested, inhaled, or subcutaneously thought a break in the skin. Anthrax is also known as wool sorter’s disease. …show more content…
“Cutaneous anthrax occurs when anthrax spores touch a cut or scape on the skin. It is the most common type of anthrax infection. People most at risk for cutaneous anthrax include farm workers, veterinarians, and tannery and wool workers.” (Medline Plus, 2015, pg.1) One to seven days after being in contact with a spore symptoms will start to show. Some symptoms are: Itchy sore that could blister and form eschar, the sores can be painless but are surrounded by swelling. After, the sore, a scab will form and eventually dry and fall off within two weeks. Complete healing can take longer than this. A skin biopsy of the sore is obtained to tell if a person has cutaneous anthrax. It is treated with antibiotics taken by mouth for seven to ten days. “Doxycycline and ciprofloxacin are most often used.” (Medline Plus, 2015, pg.4) There has been positive outlook on cutaneous anthrax, only if a person does not receive treatment and the infection gets to the blood it cannot be …show more content…
There are two main ways the CDC and government use to try and prevent an anthrax outbreak. ”If someone is exposed to anthrax but have no symptoms of the disease, doctors might prescribe preventive antibiotics, the type of antibiotics used, depends of the strain of anthrax. The second was is getting the anthrax vaccine if exposed to the bacteria. The vaccine is available to military personnel and some members of the general public. It is given in a series of five doses over 18 months.”(Medline Plus, 2015, pg.5) If one thinks that they have come in contact with a Bacillus Anthracis spore, they should seek medical attention as soon as possible. The longer one delays, the worse the infection becomes. If one waits to long the antibiotics will not be effective anymore and the infection becomes fatal. According to the CDC (2015, pg. 1)” If there were ever a bioterriosm attack with the Bacillus Anthracis bacteria then the CDC will issue the anthrax vaccine and everyone in the area should obtain one if not