Facts about Anthrax: Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax most commonly occurs in hoofed mammals and can also infect humans. Symptoms of disease vary depending on how the disease was contracted, but usually occur within 7 days after exposure. The serious forms of human anthrax are inhalation anthrax, cutaneous anthrax, and intestinal anthrax. Initial symptoms of inhalation anthrax infection may resemble a common cold. After several days, the symptoms may progress to severe breathing problems and shock. Inhalation anthrax is often fatal. The intestinal disease form of anthrax may follow the consumption of contaminated food and is characterised by an acute inflammation of the intestinal tract. Initial signs of nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, and fever are followed by abdominal pain, vomiting of blood, and severe diarrhoea. Direct person-to-person spread of anthrax is extremely unlikely, if it occurs at all. Therefore, there is no need to immunise or treat contacts of persons ill with anthrax, such as household contacts, friends, or co-workers, unless they also were also exposed to the same source of infection. In persons exposed to anthrax, infection can be prevented with antibiotic treatment. Early antibiotic treatment of anthrax is essential–delay lessens chances for survival. Anthrax usually is susceptible to penicillin, doxycycline, and fluoroquinolones. An anthrax vaccine also can prevent infection. Vaccination against anthrax is not recommended for the general public to prevent disease and is not available. http://www.bt.cdc.gov/DocumentsApp/facts...
Now, let's have a look at the other websites that I have shortlisted. We'll start with the one from the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseasein... This is the link to the 'General Information' page, you may wish to see the 'Technical Information' and 'Additional Information' pages as well. The 'General Information' page answers FAQ's.
The next page is from the Utah Department of Health Bureau of Epidemiology. http://hlunix.hl.state.ut.us/els/epidemi... But it contains nearly the same material as the CDC page mentioned above.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v281n18/... This link will enable you to download an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published in 1999(JAMA 1999;281:1735-1745). It is entitled "Anthrax as a Biological Weapon, Medical and Public Health Management". Apart from giving the clinical features of the disease it also gives reliable information on therapy.
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