Introduction
Anthrax is a disease of herbivores and commonly infects the human through direct contact with the infected animals or ingests contaminated animal products. The causative agent of anthrax is Bacillus anthracis, rod-shaped, gram-positive bacteria and able to form endospore. [1] The spores of bacillus anthracis could affect both humans and animals through different routes and lead to a variety of clinical significant. Cutaneous, inhalational and gastrointestinal anthrax are the most well-known diseases caused by bacillus anthracis. The recent Anthrax outbreak in 2009 resulted in injectional anthrax, an anthrax disease that affects heroin users. [2] In this essay, the main focus is on injectional anthrax including a briefly description of Bacillus anthracis, the range of symptoms it may cause when injected into heroin users and the discussion of the methods to inactivate B. anthracis spores.
Bacillus anthracis
Anthracis belongs to genus Bacillus, rod-shaped, gram-positive bacteria. Its special characteristic is their ability to form dormant endospores in response to extreme conditions including nutrient deprivation and other environmental factors. The spores are antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance enables the organism to survive and endure in such unfavorable conditions. B.anthracis is an extremely virulent pathogen and the causative agent of anthrax, the disease in mammal known as cutaneous, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal anthrax and injectional anthrax
Anthrax is a fatal infection of the skin, respiratory system, or gastroineutinal systems. Affects most animals that are herbivores. The life cycle of anthrax starts with the animal and when the animal dies, the diseases sits on the soil while the other mammals eat the grass from that spot. Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine for his sheep to prevent them from getting anthrax which led other doctors and scientist to acknowledge
Collectively, the results for the biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequencing suggest that the environmental isolate is of the Bacillus species and more specifically, is the bacteria Bacillus cereus. B. cereus are Gram-positive bacillus bacteria that are typically motile species, although some strains are not (BAM 2012, Bergey 1957).
Often scientists work with bacteria that do not come in a labeled test tube— for example, bacterial samples taken from infected human tissue or from the soil—and the scientist must then identify the unknown microorganism in order to understand what behavior to expect from the organism, for example, a certain type of infection or antibiotic resistance. However, because of the relatively few forms of bacteria compared to animals and because of the lack of bacterial fossil records due to their asexually reproductive nature, the taxonomy used to classify animals cannot be applied to bacteria (Brown 275). In order to classify unknown bacteria, a variety of physiological and metabolic tests are available to narrow a sample down from the fathomless number of possibilities into a more manageable range. Once these tests have been performed, the researcher can consult Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, a systematically arranged and continually updated collection of all known bacteria based on their structure, metabolism, and other attributes.
Zoonotic diseases is a serious and major concern to human health. What is a zoonosis? Zoonoses are diseases that are caused by pathogens that can infect different animals that has the ability to pass to humans. Zoonotic pathogens also destroy biodiversity in fragile wildlife. They cause many effects to humans in many different ways. Zoonosis are very important to study because scientists await a challenge on developing vaccines on a developing cure on human aids. Zoontic diseases are dangerous because it can spread by mosquitos, and ticks.
Clostridia: rod-shaped, obligate anaerobes, some form endospores, produce potent toxins that cause a variety of diseases in humans. Important in medicine & industry (Botox & oral plaque). Examples of clostridia include C. tetani (cause tetanus), C. perfringens ( causes gangrene), C. botulinum ( causes botulism) and C. difficle (severe diarrhea). Microbes related to Clostridium include: Epulopiscium - a giant bacterium that can be seen without a microscope; Some clostridia are sulfate-reducing microbes – they produce H2S from elemental sulfur during anaerobic respiration; and Selenomonas – a Vibrio-shaped bacteria, live as part of the biofilm (plaque) on teeth of warm-blooded animals. Selenomonas is unusual because even though it has a typical gram-positive RNA sequence, it has a negative Gram reaction – stains pink.
Bacillus cereus is a Gram-positive, facultative aerobic, spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium that is widely distributed among the environment.
Fleming began to sort through petri dishes containing colonies of Staphylococcus, bacteria that cause boils, sore throats and abscesses. He noticed something unusual on one dish. It was dotted with colonies, except for one area where a blob of mold was growing. The zone immediately around the mold—later identified as a rare strain of Penicillium notatum—was clear, as if the mold had secreted something that inhibited bacterial growth (American Chemical Society). The first introduction of penicillin began in the 1940’s, it was recognized as one of the greatest advances in therapeutic medicine. The discovery was made in the United Kingdom but because of World War II, the United States developed a large production of the drug. By 1937, an important pain killer known as methadone was introduced. Morphine, the most active substance in opium, is a very powerful painkiller that hooked many US Civil War soldiers (Drug Free World). They were wanting to find a painkiller that was less addictive to use for surgery and that’s why they invented
Anthrax is believed to originated in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Many scholars believe that anthrax was the fifth plague of the ten plagues of Egypt. Which was believed to bring sickness to cattle, horses, sheep, oxen and camels. Some scholars believe that anthrax helped the fall of Rome. The bacterial illness was mentioned in different famous roman literature such as homers the Iliad, and in different poems by Virgil just to name a few.
The mortality rates from anthrax vary, depending on exposure, and are approximately 20% for cutaneous anthrax without antibiotics and 25 - 75% for gastrointestinal anthrax; inhalation anthrax has a fatality rate that is 80% or higher and currently around 30% for injection anthrax. As evident in the table all age groups have to possibility of infection, there is a slightly higher infection rate for children under the age of one, possibly because their immune system is less developed and more
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax can occur in three different forms; skin, inhalation and intestinal. It is spread by contact with the bacteria spores, which are from infectious animal products. Usually contact occurs through breathing, eating or cut and does not spread between people.
Also, the anthrax spores can take between 1 - 60 days to begin to germinate in the body.
Taking the likely organisms to cause a particular wound or abcess or pneumonia and through the judicious choice of different culture media, a bateria can be quickly isolated identified.
A disease caused by the toxin produced by Clostridium tetanus is known as Tetanus. Tetanus is a rare disease in the United States that is contracted through an opening of the body. Currently there is no treatment available to combat the infection. Per the JABFM Journal Of The American Board Of Family Medicine, published on May 1, 2001, Volume 14, no. 3, pages 223- 224 a case study was conducted investigating the tetanus disease. The title of the article is Tetanus: A Case Study by Peter J. Raia. MS, MD. The purpose of this project is to examine the research and determine a conclusion based on the information provided.
Bacillus subtilis is rod-shaped and has the ability to form a tough, protective endospore, allow the organism to tolerate extreme conditions. Some uses of Bacillus subtilis includes using as a model organism for laboratory studies. It can also be genetically modified to convert explosives into harmless compound of nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide. (Wikipedia, 2010)
Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium. The most common victims of anthrax are warm-blooded animals, but it can also infect humans. Anthrax spores can be produced in a powdery form for biological warfare. When inhaled by humans, these particles cause respiratory failure and death within a week. Because anthrax is considered to be a potential agent for use in biological warfare, the Department of Defense (DOD), in 1998, announced it would begin a systematic vaccination of all U.S. military personnel. (DOD, 1998) Anthrax infection occurs in three forms: cutaneous (skin), inhalation, and gastrointestinal. B. anthracis spores can survive in the soil for many years and handling animal