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.
Last modified: Monday, 4 June 2012, 4:21 AM