Quick 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:

1. Inhalation anthrax (from breathing a significant dose of anthrax spores),

2. Cutaneous anthrax (spores enter non-intact skin), and

3. Intestinal anthrax (eating insufficiently cooked food that is contaminated with 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 characterized 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 diarrhea.
   

• Direct person-to-person spread of anthrax is extremely unlikely, if it occurs at all. Therefore, there is no need to immunize or treat contacts of persons ill with anthrax, such as household contacts, friends, or coworkers, 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, ciprofloxacin, 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.  In the United States, a limited quantity of the vaccine is made for members of the military. 

(This material has been developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reuse or reproduction of this material is authorized. Information updated September 2001. )

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