https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3 Bacillus anthracis en-us 2019-04-22 17:04:58 UTC 2023-02-16 19:51:38 UTC hello@padlet.com kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353120320 Bacillus anthracis is a gram-positive, rod-shaped pathogen and is the agent of the disease anthrax. Aloys Pollender, a German scientist, is credited as discovering Bacillus anthracis. The disease causing pathogen usually impacts animals, but can also harm humans.  The pathogen became the first bacterium tested for Robert Koch's postulates.  ]]> 2019-04-22 17:13:27 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353120320 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353125072 Anthrax's symptoms may take anywhere between one day to two months to appear depending on which type of anthrax. Most occur within a week, but inhalation anthrax may take weeks. All types of anthrax have the ability, if untreated, to cause severe illness or be fatal. On the skin for cutaneous infections, a patch of bumps or blisters may itch and swelling may occur. After these patches, a painless bump resembling a bug bite with a black center may appear anywhere from the face, neck, arms, or hands. Those with injected anthrax may also have a cluster of bumps at the injection site or the black center bump, as well fever and chills and swelling at the injection site. Gastrointestinal anthrax symptoms can include flushed face and red eyes, neck swelling, sore throat, diarrhea and vomiting, fever and chills, or stomach pain or swelling. Inhaling anthrax spores can lead to coughing up blood, flu-like symptoms, pain in the chest and throat, high fever, breathing shortness, and even meningitis.]]> 2019-04-22 17:26:42 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353125072 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353128017 Since anthrax spores may take anywhere from a day to sixty days to activate, those exposed to anthrax may take antibiotics used to prevent the disease from developing such as Ciprofloxacin and doxycycline. Another prevention measure is the anthrax vaccination called Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA). The vaccine is approved by the FDA, does not contain and cannot give one anthrax, and has two different uses. For those who work in laboratories with anthrax, some animal workers like veterinarians, and some military may use the Routine Occupational Use of the vaccine before any exposure. If someone is already exposed to spores, Post-Event Emergency Use includes getting the sixty day antibiotics, as well as three vaccine shots over the next four weeks.  ]]> 2019-04-22 17:35:03 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353128017 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353132581 Anthrax occurs when its spores enter the body and activate to become anthrax bacteria. Anthrax is not contagious, though infection may occur via contact with skin lesions caused by the disease. Those who work with animals, like veterans, or animal products including hair and wool are the most common at risk category for the disease. Consuming meat from an anthrax infected animal and heroin injection linked anthrax are upcoming ways of contracting the disease, but remain rare in the United States. Touching items infected with anthrax spores may lead to cutaneous anthrax entering through a cut. Breathing in spores like the 2001 outbreak can cause inhalation anthrax, the most fatal of the anthrax types. Consuming raw meat may lead to the gastrointestinal anthrax.]]> 2019-04-22 17:48:00 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353132581 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353135688 If anthrax is suspected, the doctor will run a number a tests. These may include fluid or blood samples, a spinal tap, blood and septum culture, x-ray of the chest, and a biopsy or skin culture if cutaneous. If the anthrax is due to inhalation, a round of antibiotics are administered intravenously for sixty days. Cutaneous anthrax is also treated with antibiotics, but taken orally for around a week. Antibiotics for anthrax may include penicillin, Ciprofloxacin, and doxycycline.  Cutaneous and Gastrointestinal anthrax may be easy to treat, but may be fatal if infection enter the bloodstream. As for Inhalation anthrax, even with treatment, those in second stage are likely to die of the disease.]]> 2019-04-22 17:57:24 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353135688 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353138763 Cutaneous anthrax is the most common source of anthrax infection and the least fatal. The infection enters through a cut, lesion, or bite on the skin. The most common causes of this disease is working with or touching contaminated animal products like wool and hair. It may spread via contact with an anthrax infected lesion or directly touching anthrax spores like in the 2001 terrorism scare, but this is rare. Infection sets within two to three days with the appearance of a ring of vesicles. The black ulcer lesion is painless, may include edema, and rarely has pus unless a secondary infection has occurred. The lesion should slowly leave after two to six weeks and leave only minor scarring. If left untreated, 20% of patients with cutaneous anthrax will die.]]> 2019-04-22 18:07:51 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353138763 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353141782 Eating meat from animals infected with the pathogen Bacilus anthracis may lead to the anthrax infection of the gastrointestinal tract. Only a few countries have reported this type of anthrax. It will appear within two to five days. The initial symptoms may include refusal to eat, fever, vomiting and nausea, and fever or sore throat, edema, and painful swallowing. If left untreated the disease will result in severe stomach pain, sepsis, and death. The disease has a high mortality rate, but can be treated if caught in an early stage. ]]> 2019-04-22 18:16:37 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353141782 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353144105 Inhalation anthrax occurs due to breathing in anthrax spores. This form of the disease is rare in the United States and was often associated with textile and tanning workplace exposure. In 2001, eleven cases of inhalation anthrax occurred after contamination of the United States mail. Two to five days after exposure, the infected will suffer flu-like symptoms for around 48 hours. After this, fever, labored, noisy breathing, and a bluish hue in the skin develop. Following this, the patient may have faint, rapid heart beat, be confused, and fall into a coma or die. Around half of those infected end up with meningitis. Six of the infected from the 2001 mail terrorist act survived giving hope to medical professionals that the disease may be survivable if treated early enough. ]]> 2019-04-22 18:23:16 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353144105 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353146817 The newest variant of anthrax, Injection anthrax has similar symptoms to cutaneous anthrax. Unlike cutaneous anthrax, injection anthrax may infect deeper under the skin or even into the muscle where the drug is injected. This form of anthrax is harder to treat and spreads faster than cutaneous. It has yet to be reported in the United States, but has appeared in Europe in heroin users. So far, injection anthrax has around a 30% fatality rate. ]]> 2019-04-22 18:31:12 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353146817 kmlochridge01 https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353149800 The pathogen is very large, as well as gram-positive and rod-shaped. It may be cultivated in anaerobic or aerobic conditions in an ordinary nutrient medium. Bacillus anthracis is immobile and endospore forming. The pathogen produces two binary toxins: edema factor and lethal factor. Both of these need the protective antigen to enter the cytosol. Bacillus anthracis also contains the two virulence factors: toxin factor and polypeptide complex. ]]> 2019-04-22 18:41:07 UTC https://padlet.com/kmlochridge01/mchg435lczh3/wish/353149800