The anthrax – a bacterial disease with dangerous potential as a biological or terrorist weapon – is spreading at an alarming rate in Zambia and a few neighboring African countries, warned the World Health Organization on Monday, raising the alarm as health officials rush to control the situation for fear of a wider outbreak in the region.
Main Facts
Anthrax is a rare but serious and potentially fatal disease caused by bacteria that occur naturally in soil around the world, which was weaponized as a fine powder and sent in letters to politicians and the media in 2001.
It usually infects wild and domesticated animals – particularly grazing animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, and antelopes – but it can infect humans when they come into contact with infected animals or contaminated materials.
When anthrax enters the body, the bacteria multiply and produce potent toxins, causing illness, with the type of disease depending on how anthrax enters the body.
Human cases overwhelmingly – more than 90% – are cutaneous anthrax, acquired through skin breaks, showing symptoms such as itchy blisters or bumps, skin ulcers, and swelling usually around the site of infection within one to seven days after exposure.
Other forms of anthrax occur after inhalation – the most severe form of the disease, which can present months after exposure and cause severe respiratory issues and shock – and ingestion of contaminated materials (known as gastrointestinal anthrax), which can cause a range of symptoms that may resemble food poisoning.
Anthrax can be prevented through vaccination of animals and humans, and should be treated promptly with antibiotics and antitoxins, often requiring hospitalization, and even with aggressive treatment, infections are often fatal, with 40% to 45% of patients dying from gastrointestinal and inhalation anthrax respectively (without treatment, inhalation anthrax is almost always fatal, and half of gastrointestinal anthrax cases end in death, with one in five cases of cutaneous anthrax being fatal).
Recent Developments
The WHO regional office warned that five countries in East and Southern Africa – Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – are experiencing major anthrax outbreaks, with a total of 1166 suspected cases and 37 confirmed cases reported in these countries since the beginning of the year, according to the World Health Organization. Twenty related deaths have been reported during the same period. While the disease is usually present in these countries, the WHO stated that the situation has surpassed the normal levels, especially in Zambia, where nearly 700 suspected cases and four deaths were reported by the end of November. The extent of the outbreak in Zambia and its location means “increased risk of disease spread in the region,” the WHO warned.
Main Background
Experts generally believe that anthrax will continue to be a health problem for people and animals for the foreseeable future. Anthrax bacteria can form hard, protective shells known as spores. Most infections follow exposure to these spores, which can reactivate and begin to multiply. Anthrax spores are extremely durable and can survive in the environment under harsh conditions for very long periods, possibly even decades, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. This combination of extreme resistance and durability makes eliminating or controlling anthrax “very difficult,” the organization stated. Anthrax spores make it an ideal candidate – and have been explored by several countries, although none are known to have used it – as a biological weapon, as they are lethal and can be easily disseminated as an aerosol. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that anthrax is “one of the most likely biological agents to be used” in a biological terrorist attack.
The Number
The Big
100,000. Researchers estimate that around this number of anthrax cases occur in animals worldwide each year. They say that approximately 1.8 billion people are directly exposed to anthrax as they live in areas prone to anthrax, particularly in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Stunning Fact
Experts previously believed that there were only three ways for anthrax to appear in humans, but they have recently discovered a new form among heroin-injecting drug users in Northern Europe. Injection anthrax, where the needle injects anthrax spores into the body, has symptoms similar to cutaneous anthrax but may include deep infections under the skin or in the muscle where the drug was injected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that injection site infections are not always anthrax and can be caused by many other common bacteria.
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