REFERENCES FOR ANTHRAX POISONING
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Treatment recommendations from the CDC for patients infected with inhalation and cutaneous anthrax. Side effects attributed to antibiotics and the FDA-approved drugs for anthrax poisoning.
Herbal Remedies - Anthrax poisoning information providing information on the mandatory vaccination of the United States Department of Defense against anthrax. Lifestyle changes to prevent anthrax infections when traveling in countries in which anthrax infections are common.
How To Do Things How to recognize anthrax poisoning by understand the cutaneous, inhalationa, and gastrointestinal routes of anthrax poisoning. Herbivore animals are the most commonly infected, but humans can be infected when coming in contact with contaminated soil or animals as spores are vigilant and can survive in the harshest of conditions for many years.
Directors of Health Promotion and Education - Anthrax facts and symptoms of poisoning. Anthrax can be found in livestock worldwide. Cutaneous anthrax infections are characterized by raised red bumps that develop into ulcers with black centers of necrotic tissue.
Todar's Online Textbook of Bacteriology.- In 1877 Robert Koch discovered Bacillus anthracis, the first bacterium known be identified as the cause of a disease. Bacillus anthracis is a Gram-positive spore-forming rod shaped bacteria which can be cultured in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
MedicineNet - The cause of anthrax as well as common infections and the incubation period for the different routes of poisoning. Anthrax diagnosis can be made from bacterial cultures obtain from nasal, throat, and sputum swab.
eMedicineHealth - The preferred method of treatment for anthrax poisoning is antibiotics. The normal antibiotic regiment is 60 days starting with IV then oral treatments as the patient's condition allows.
WebMD - An overview of Anthrax diagnosis and treatment to include sensitivity testing for determination of susceptibility to certain antibiotics. Precautions and contraindications for routine anthrax treatment in children and women due to teeth and dental enamel damage.
Mayo Clinic - Treatment for cutaneous and gastrointestinal anthrax poisoiing is routinely 60 days of antibiotics. Inhalation anthrax poisoning that has begun the stages of infection is shown not to be susceptible to antibiotics as the bacterium produces rapidly spreading toxins. A vaccine has been approved by the FDA, but it is not 100% effective and is not available for general public use.
The New York Times Health Guide - Anthrax is commonly diagnosed in hoofed herbivore animals. Inhalation poisoning in humans can be fatal if treatment is not initiated soon after exposure. Anthrax produces toxins that cause internal bleeding, severe edema, and tissue death.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports-CDC - Bioterrorism related anthrax precautions and treatment regiments require active and aggressive antibiotic therapy if exposure to anthrax spores is known or suspected often times prior to the presentation of symptoms or a positive bacterial culture.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease -Early symptoms of anthrax are frequently confused with the common cold or flu, making treatment less successful. Antibiotics can destroy the bacteria Bacillus anthracis but no effect on anthrax toxins.
Washington Business Journal -Human Genome Sciences created the 20,000 doses of raxibacumab needed for the United States Strategic National Stockpile emergency anthrax treatment project. Human Genome is in clinical trials to prove that raxibacumab will be an effective treatment for inhalation anthrax, which currently has not shown susceptibility to any current treatments.
Federal Occupational Health Service - Tests for anthrax poisoning should consist of blood cultures microscopic examination of tissues with cautionary recommendations that nasal swabs given the high probability of false negatives should not be solely used to determine a person's exposure to anthrax of the administration of prophylactic antibiotic treatment.
Oxford Journals of Clinical Infectious Diseases - Anthrax poisoning can be positively identified through microbiological culture isolating Gram positive rods that are spore-forming and penicillin sensitive. Samples testing positive for anthrax should be treated as biohazardous.