Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsAnthrax Powder HistoryHow Do Humans Encounter Anthrax?Is Anthrax Contagious?Signs and SymptomsExposure Without SymptomsTreatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Anthrax Powder History
How Do Humans Encounter Anthrax?
Is Anthrax Contagious?
Signs and Symptoms
Exposure Without Symptoms
Treatment
Bacterial spores are dormant forms of bacteria that have evolved to survive harsh environments for a long time without resources to grow or multiply. They turn off all but the essential functions and wait for the time to be right again.
People get anthrax infections from anthrax spores. Depending on how a person is exposed, they can have varying effects. If spores are inhaled, they can be deadly. The effects are milder when only the skin is infected.
Anthrax is rare in the United States. Fewer than a dozen people a year come into contact with it, and most are exposed from working with animals, not from weaponized anthrax powder.
This article will describe what anthrax powder is, what anthrax does to humans and cattle, where anthrax comes from, and how contagious anthrax is. It will explain how anthrax spreads, the signs of anthrax exposure, and treatment options for anthrax.
The bacteria that create anthrax spores occur naturally. Anthrax bacteria can be grown in the lab to make anthrax powder. Anthrax powder is purified anthrax spores that have been processed so that they can spread through the air.
Anthrax can be used as a biological weapon because of several unique bacterial traits:
Anthrax has been used as a bioterror weapon since World War I. The most significant use of anthrax in recent memory is a 2001 attack in the United States. Someone sent letters filled with a white anthrax powder to two U.S. Senators and news media offices.
Twenty-two people came into contact with anthrax (11 respiratory and 11 skin infections), and five died.
Humans encounter anthrax from coming into contact with bacterial spores. These spores are present in the soil and can also infect animals.
A person might also get anthrax spores in an open wound on their hand from touching dirt,an infected animal, or animal products like wool, hides, or hair.They may also ingest them from eating an animal that had them or drinking water that contains spores.
Anthrax spores can be turned into a powder. These spores float in the air and can be inhaled. This type of anthrax has been used as a bioterror weapon and can be deadly.
If ExposedIf you think you’ve come in contact with anthrax powder, talk to a healthcare professional right away. If you have signs of anthrax poisoning, go to the ER immediately.
If Exposed
If you think you’ve come in contact with anthrax powder, talk to a healthcare professional right away. If you have signs of anthrax poisoning, go to the ER immediately.
Animals get anthrax similarly; they come into contact with the spores in the soil, plants, or water. Farm animals in areas where there may be exposure to anthrax are typically vaccinated against anthrax to help prevent outbreaks.
Animals susceptible to anthrax infection include:
Rarely, the infection may pass from one person to the other through secretions from an infected wound. When caring for someone with an anthrax skin infection, take precautions to avoid getting the fluid from the wound on your skin.
Signs of Anthrax Poisoning
When anthrax spores enter the body, they are “activated” and no longer dormant. They then multiply, spread in the body, and make toxins that can make you sick.
The signs of anthrax poisoning differ based on how you’ve come into contact with anthrax. All types of anthrax can be deadly if the infection spreads throughout the body.
Inhaled Anthrax
Inhaling anthrax spores causes severe symptoms and can be deadly. You may breathe in these spores from the dirt while processing an animal product like wool or a weaponized powder.
Symptoms usually develop within a week after exposure but can take as long as two months. The infection first spreads to thelymph nodesin the chest and then to the rest of the body. It causes breathing problems and can send the body intoshock.
Symptoms of inhaled anthrax include:
Anthrax on the Skin
Cutaneous anthrax is most common on the head, neck, forearms, and hands. It affects the skin and tissue around the site of infection. Signs of infection show up one to seven days after exposure to the spores.
Symptoms of anthrax positioning on the skin include:
Injection ExposureGetting an anthrax infection through an injection deep under the skin or in the muscle is also possible. This has been reported in people in northern Europe who inject heroin.Researchers think the anthrax was in the heroin itself, not the environment.This has not been reported in the United States so far.
Injection Exposure
Getting an anthrax infection through an injection deep under the skin or in the muscle is also possible. This has been reported in people in northern Europe who inject heroin.Researchers think the anthrax was in the heroin itself, not the environment.This has not been reported in the United States so far.
Ingested Anthrax
Anthrax can infect the gastrointestinal system, causing ingested anthrax. This may happen when you eat raw or undercooked meat from an infected animal. This is rare in the United States, where many animals get vaccinated against anthrax and inspected before slaughtering. It’s more common in other areas of the world where the vaccine is less common.
Infection with gastrointestinal anthrax can take one to seven days to show up after exposure. It can infect any part of the upper gastrointestinal tract, including the throat, esophagus, stomach, and intestines.
Symptoms of ingested anthrax include:
Anthrax Exposure Without Symptoms
Symptoms may take days or weeks to develop after you’ve come into contact with anthrax.
If you’ve been exposed to anthrax, a healthcare provider can start treatment to help you fight off the infection. People exposed to anthrax can get ananthrax vaccine. They get three doses over four weeks. A healthcare provider will also give you antibiotics.
Treating Anthrax Poisoning
If you think you’ve been exposed and are showing symptoms, a healthcare provider will try to determine how you may have been exposed. If you may have inhaled anthrax, they’ll order tests like chest X-rays or computed tomography (CT) scans.
They can test your blood for anthrax toxins or antibodies against anthrax. They can also test a sample of your blood, wound fluid,phlegm, orspinal fluidfor anthrax bacteria.
If the anthrax infection is serious, you may need to stay in the hospital. You may needantibioticsthat they can only give through a tube in a vein (IV), special procedures to clean the wound, or amachine to help you breathe.
In all anthrax cases, a healthcare provider will give you medicine to treat the infection and reduce symptoms.
Drugs used to treat anthrax infection include:
Anthrax Mortality and SurvivabilityYou can survive anthrax poisoning. Anthrax poisoning is not always fatal.Especially with treatment, most people with anthrax survive.
Anthrax Mortality and Survivability
You can survive anthrax poisoning. Anthrax poisoning is not always fatal.Especially with treatment, most people with anthrax survive.
Summary
A healthcare provider will treat anthrax infection with antibiotics and antitoxins. With treatment, most people with anthrax will survive. Without treatment, anthrax infections can be deadly.
The sooner you start treatment, the better your chances of recovery. Call a healthcare provider immediately if you think you may have been exposed to anthrax.
13 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.MedlinePlus.Spores.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).What is anthrax?Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The threat of an anthrax attack.United States General Accounting Office.Public health response to anthrax incidents of 2001.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).How people get anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).What to do if you think you have been exposed to anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Types of anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Symptoms of anthrax.U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About anthrax.Bower WA, Schiffer J, Atmar RL, et al.Use of anthrax vaccine in the United States: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, 2019.MMWRRecomm Rep. 2019;68(4):1-14. doi:10.15585/mmwr.rr6804a1U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Clinical care of anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Treatment of anthrax infection.Hendricks KA, Wright ME, Shadomy SV, et al.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert panel meetings on prevention and treatment of anthrax in adults.Emerg Infect Dis. 2014;20(2):e130687. doi:10.3201/eid2002.130687
13 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.MedlinePlus.Spores.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).What is anthrax?Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The threat of an anthrax attack.United States General Accounting Office.Public health response to anthrax incidents of 2001.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).How people get anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).What to do if you think you have been exposed to anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Types of anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Symptoms of anthrax.U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About anthrax.Bower WA, Schiffer J, Atmar RL, et al.Use of anthrax vaccine in the United States: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, 2019.MMWRRecomm Rep. 2019;68(4):1-14. doi:10.15585/mmwr.rr6804a1U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Clinical care of anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Treatment of anthrax infection.Hendricks KA, Wright ME, Shadomy SV, et al.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert panel meetings on prevention and treatment of anthrax in adults.Emerg Infect Dis. 2014;20(2):e130687. doi:10.3201/eid2002.130687
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
MedlinePlus.Spores.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).What is anthrax?Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The threat of an anthrax attack.United States General Accounting Office.Public health response to anthrax incidents of 2001.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).How people get anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).What to do if you think you have been exposed to anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Types of anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Symptoms of anthrax.U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About anthrax.Bower WA, Schiffer J, Atmar RL, et al.Use of anthrax vaccine in the United States: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, 2019.MMWRRecomm Rep. 2019;68(4):1-14. doi:10.15585/mmwr.rr6804a1U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Clinical care of anthrax.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Treatment of anthrax infection.Hendricks KA, Wright ME, Shadomy SV, et al.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert panel meetings on prevention and treatment of anthrax in adults.Emerg Infect Dis. 2014;20(2):e130687. doi:10.3201/eid2002.130687
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Symptoms of anthrax.
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Hendricks KA, Wright ME, Shadomy SV, et al.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert panel meetings on prevention and treatment of anthrax in adults.Emerg Infect Dis. 2014;20(2):e130687. doi:10.3201/eid2002.130687
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