What is antrax?

2001/10/10 Sarasua Etxeberria, Arantxa | Umaran Sanchez, Adelaida

• Mikrobiologia

Bacillus anthracis with spores within spp.

Antraxa is an infection caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. This bacterium forms forms of resistance or spores capable of surviving in the middle for a long time (photos). When the earth is contaminated with these spores, livestock can become infected and sick to humans living around the livestock. Antrax has been one of the greatest plagues of antiquity, also cited in the Bible. In 1660 he killed thousands of humans and animals in Europe, but since 1881 the antrax vaccine was achieved, it is well controlled and very few cases appear.

Graphic . Antrax outbreak after 2 hours of aeration of spores Bacillus anthracis in a city of 100,000 inhabitants.

In most of them the spores of the bacteria enter the skin of the man and cause a local, mild and curable infection.

If antrax spores are breathed, the issue is much more serious. The bronchial defense cells, the macrophages, swallow the spores and carry them inward to the lungs. There the spores germinate and proliferate producing and expelling three types of toxins. Toxins kill the cells, the infection expands and eventually destroy the blood vessels and internal organs. If 48 hours after the infection does not undergo treatment, 95% of the infected die, without treatment of course all infected die. It is very rare that these cases occur naturally, since the dose necessary to become infected by the respiratory tract is very high -10,000-20,000 sports-. However, when the animal's hair is full of spores, wool cutters can get sick.

Bacteria of the genus Clostridium spp

Extreme roundabouts are sporty

But what would happen after an attack with the antrax sword? If millions of spores between 1 and 2 micrometers of Bacillus anthracis were cleared over a population of 100,000 inhabitants, they would be in the air about two hours, so that the population can breathe. The appearance of the antrax would be similar to that of graph 2. Most patients should be hospitalized and treated with antibiotic for a long time, as long as there are health means to cope with this type of emergency. If there were no deaths, the number of deaths would be higher than expected. On the other hand, the treatment of 100,000 inhabitants and the days of hospitalization would require between 25 and 500 million dollars.