Open AccessInjectional anthrax in human: A new face of the old disease
Author(s) -
Aleksandra Anna Zasada
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advances in clinical and experimental medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.486
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 2451-2680
pISSN - 1899-5276
DOI - 10.17219/acem/68380
Subject(s) - bacillus anthracis , outbreak , anthrax toxin , antibiotics , medicine , anthrax vaccines , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , intensive care medicine , virology , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , biology , antibody , bacteria , dna vaccination , biochemistry , genetics , immunization , gene , fusion protein , recombinant dna
Unusual human behavior leads to the emergence of new forms of infectious diseases and new routes of infection. In recent years, a new form of anthrax, called injectional anthrax, emerged and was related to 2 human anthrax outbreaks in Europe. The infection was caused by heroin contaminated with anthrax spores. The new form of anthrax differs from the earlier known "natural" forms of the disease in symptoms, length of the incubation period and recommended treatment. Despite medical treatment, the mortality rate in injectional anthrax is about 35%. This article presents an overview of the forms of anthrax infection in humans, with focus on injectional anthrax syndrome, as well as actual recommendations for treatment, including antibiotic therapy, surgery and possibilities of administering anthrax antitoxin. As a source of contamination of heroin have not been identified and new cases of injectional anthrax might occur again in any country in the future.