It's actually quite simple. Anthrax is caused by a bacteria. The bacteria is also called a bacillus, due to its shape (rod-shaped). Outside the body the bacillus forms spores. If you come in contact with a bacillus which did not form a spore, you won't get infected. If you come in contact with sufficient spores via your skin, that is called cutaneous anthrax, and it is very curable. That is the most common form. Just one spore isn't enough and you need to get it in a wound, scratch, or mucus membrane, your skin is a natural shield.
If you ingest spores, either by eating (usually contaminated meat) or drinking contaminated water, you get ingestion anthrax and it is less curable than cutaneous anthrax. This is the second most common form.
The least common form of anthrax is caused by inhaling spores - again, not just one. It is estimated that you must inhale 2000 to 3000 minimum to get sick. Inhalation anthrax is called woolhandler's disease because the most common way to get it is by handling wool with spores on it.
Dirt on farms or where animals go can be contaminated with anthrax spores which can live for ten years. The disease is found all over the world, but in the US and most advanced countries, domestic animals are vaccinated against anthrax. But wild animals in the US do get it.
The case of anthrax earlier this year in Texas was not inhalation anthrax. It was probably cutaneous anthrax, which is almost always curable if caught in time and properly treated.
People worry a lot about inhalation anthrax because it is almost always fatal even with proper treatment. But inhalation anthrax is very rare.
Thus the statement that the last known case of inhalation anthrax in the USA was 1976 is not inconsistent with the statement that the last known case of anthrax in the USA was earlier this year in Texas. Two different forms of the disease. |
