In France, anthrax is often called by its English name: anthrax. The latter itself comes from the name of the bacteria responsible for the disease. Bacillus Anthracis.
Anthrax: what is it?
"Anthrax is caused by a bacteria called Bacillus Anthracis, rod bacteria, aerobic or anaerobic depending on the circumstances, producing one or more toxins, the main one causing swelling of the tissues (edema) which can cause death in a few minutes or a few hours", explains Doctor Gaucher.
It can take the form of a spore, which allows it to resist for decades in conditions unsuitable for its development. This explains its reappearance in Siberia in the summer of 2016 on the frozen corpse of a reindeer that died of coal in the last century and reappeared during global warming and the melting of the ice in this region.
How is anthrax transmitted?
It is transmitted by animals and their droppings or their meat. The most affected breeds are in order of frequency:
- Sheep
- Horse
- Cattle
- the birds
Carnivores are less affected, birds and cold-blooded animals are spared, except the ostrich. "Anthrax is transmitted to humans through direct contact with the skin and fleece of infected animals inhaling spores of the bacteria, ingesting spores or bacteria from the meat of infected animals", details the doctor.
What are the symptoms of anthrax?
It has three possible forms, dermatological, pulmonary or digestive, but the most common in humans is the cutaneous form. The pulmonary form, used in bio-terrorism in contaminated envelopes, is the most severe of the disease. The spores will then nest in the pulmonary alveoli and colonize the lymphatic system. "The skin signs are the appearance of redness and painful swelling around a small wound or a small skin wound, usually on a hand having touched a contaminated area (disease of the renderers or shearers of sheep ) ", describes Doctor Gaucher. This redness quickly turns into a hollow "button" which takes on a blackish crusty appearance and forms vesicles all around "The name "charcoal" comes precisely from the appearance of the lesion. Especially since it was treated in the 18th century with oak charcoal or with decoctions of walnut leaves, both black", she adds. You have to intervene very quickly and take antibiotics (one or two simultaneously).
Treatments for anthrax
Anthrax is treated very well with antibiotics these days, provided that diagnosis and treatment are started quickly. "There are vaccines against this bacterium, but the risks of side effects and the little durability make them vaccines reserved for veterinary or professional use.", explains the doctor. The main antibiotics used are ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, vafloxacin, doxycycline, amoxicillin and pefloxacin. In the absence of prompt and adequate management, anthrax causes death fast.
Anthrax and contaminated envelopes
In the weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks, several envelopes containing the anthrax bacillus were sent to American media and politicians. Inhalation of the toxic substance caused the death of five people and required the hospitalization of seventeen others. No one has been formally charged or convicted for these acts, which at the time caused a veritable panic in the United States. The investigation was definitively closed in 2010 and the American justice system considered that the culprit was Bruce Ivins, a researcher on anthrax vaccines who died in 2008 at the age of 62 years.
Thanks to Doctor Catherine Gaucher, dermatologist and venerologist in Paris
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