Systematic Veterinary Bacteriology and Mycology

Treatment, immunity, public health aspects

TREATMENT, IMMUNITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH ASPECTS

Treatment

• The organism is susceptible to penicillin-G, tetracyclines, erythromycin and chloramphenicol.

Immunity

• Prevention of anthrax in animals is aided by active immunization.
• Initially Bail demonstrated that oedema fluid and tissues obtained from anthrax lesion, which had been freed from viable organism, had protective properties.
• He termed the active substances as "aggresins".
• Pasteur’s vaccine was anthrax bacillus attenuated by growth at 42 –43⁰ C .
• As the spore is the common infective form in nature, vaccines consisting of spores of attenuated strains were developed.
• The strene vaccine contained spores of noncapsulated avirulent mutant strain.
• It should be given 1 month before anticipated outbreaks.
• The Mazucchi vaccine contained spores of stable attenuated carbazzoo strain in 2% saponin.
• It gives good protection when given subcutaneously.
• Protective humoral antibodies develop in 7-10 days against Factor II of the exotoxin complex and lasts about one year.

Public Health aspects

• There is need for great care in performing necropsy on animals.
• Infections most often result from spores entering through injuries to the skin, causing cutaneous anthrax.
• Spores are present in soil, hair, hides, wool (wool sorter’s disease-Pulmonary anthrax), faeces, milk, meat and blood products.
• The skin lesion (cutaneous anthrax) is usually solitary, painless, seropurulent, necrotizing, hemorrhagic and ulcerous.
• It leaves a black scar (anthrax=coal), which accounts for the name malignant pustule.