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Med. Pr. 2002;53(2)

Anthrax as biowarfare weapon

Wąglik jako broń biologiczna

J. Zajkowska, T. HermanowskaśSzpakowicz

Abstract

Anthrax-disease of herbivorous animals, occasionally affecting humans, is regarded as an ideal biowarfare weapon. This was witnessed during a tragic accident in swierdłowsk some time ago and nowadays it has been observed among post office workers in theUSA. Depending on the way the pathogen enters the body, several forms of disease develops: skin anthrax specific for the man (with mortality up to 20%), intestinal anthrax resulting from the consumption of infected food or flash of infected animals (with mortality up to 60-80%) and inhalation pulmonary anthrax (with mortality up to 90%).
The lethal effects of disease are due to a toxin composed of three agents. It is recommended that the exposed persons be given antibiotics to prevent them from the development of acute forms of the disease. Bearing in mind that there are B.anthracis strains resistant to Penicillin and Doxycyclin, Ciprofloxacin should be given to the patients, including children, pregnant women (for 60 days until determining antibiotic resistance) and immunocompromised persons. In single cases - intravenous,and in a large number of cases - oral treatment is recommended.

Key words

anthrax, epidemiology, clinic, prevention