Anthrax is a bacterial infection caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. This type of bacteria produce spores, a form of the microorganism that is covered with a protective shell. These spores can live for years in soil. It is not until they are taken in to the body that they cause anthrax. This illness is most common in farm animals, like cows, goats, and sheep, but it does occur on humans occasionally, as well. Humans are typically infected by coming into contact with an animal or part of an animal that is infected.
For people to become infected with anthrax, they would have to come in contact with the spores in one of three very specific ways: they would have to eat meat that contained spores (meat that spreads anthrax comes from animals that were infected with the bacteria and usually has not been fully cooked); they would have to get spores directly into a cut or wound in their skin; or they would have to breathe thousands of the spores all of the way into their lungs. Even if a person comes into contact with spores, the likelihood that a person will get sick is relatively small. If the spores are not able to get into the digestive tract, the lungs, or a wound in the skin, the illness will not develop.
Anthrax is not a contagious illness, meaning that people cannot give it to other people. Remember, anthrax can only infect people in the three ways listed above.
If a person becomes infected with anthrax, treatment with antibiotics is generally successful. Antibiotics are medications that kill bacteria.
Anthrax should not be a significant cause for concern, cases are very rare. There was an incident in the fall of 2001, where some people were infected with anthrax, as a result of breathing spores that had been sent to them in the form of sealed envelopes sent through the mail. Though frightening, only a small number of people became sick from this event. Police have also been taking steps ever since 2001 to ensure that nothing like this will ever be able to happen again. A person’s chance of getting anthrax from spores that someone spreads or from any type of contact with an infected animal is extremely low. The likelihood is that neither you or any member of your family will ever come into contact with anthrax spores, so you should not be concerned.
