anthrax

(noun)

An infectious bacterial disease of herbivores than can also occur in humans through contact with infected animals, tissue from infected animals, or high concentrations of anthrax spores.

Related Terms

Examples of anthrax in the following topics:

  • Anthrax

    • This is known as inhalation anthrax or pulmonary anthrax and can cause serious, sometimes lethal respiratory disease.
    • Inhalation anthrax has a 97% mortality rate.
    • This is known as cutaneous anthrax.
    • By eating undercooked meat containing anthrax spores.
    • Anthrax can be treated with anitbiotics.

  • Koch and Pure Culture

    • Robert Koch identified anthrax as a disease agent and formulated postulates that are still used to research diseases today.
    • After Casimir Davaine demonstrated the direct transmission of the anthrax bacillus between cows, Koch studied anthrax more closely.
    • He found that, while it could not survive outside a host for long, anthrax built persisting endospores that could last a long time.
    • These endospores, embedded in soil, were the cause of unexplained "spontaneous" outbreaks of anthrax.
    • Koch's research and methods helped link the causal nature of microbes to certain diseases, including anthrax.

  • Limitation of Microbial Growth by Nutrient Supply

    • An image of an anthrax culture grown on a petri dish.

  • Airborne Transmission of Disease

    • Many types of infections that can be a result of airborne transmission include: Anthrax, Chickenpox, Influenza, Measles, Smallpox, and Tuberculosis.

  • Koch's Postulates

    • Koch applied the postulates to establish the etiology of anthrax and tuberculosis, but they have been generalized to other diseases.

  • Endospores

    • Endospores of the bacterium Bacillus anthracis were used in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
    • The powder found in contaminated postal letters was composed of extracellular anthrax endospores.

  • History of Microbiology: Hooke, van Leeuwenhoek, and Cohn

    • He found that the blood of cattle who were infected with anthrax always had large numbers of Bacillus anthracis.
    • Koch found that he could transmit anthrax from one animal to another by taking a small sample of blood from the infected animal and injecting it into a healthy one, and this caused the healthy animal to become sick.

  • Defining Microbes

    • The organisms involved include pathogenic bacteria, which are the cause of diseases such as plague, tuberculosis and anthrax.

  • High Pressure

    • Experiments were also performed with anthrax, typhoid, and tuberculosis, which was a potential health risk for the researchers.

  • Ecological Associations Among Microorganisms

    • Bacterial diseases are also important in agriculture, with bacteria causing leaf spot, fire blight, and wilts in plants; as well as Johne's disease, mastitis, salmonella, and anthrax in farm animals.