anthrax

     

Anthrax is an acute isease in humans and animals caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis which is highly lethal in some forms. There are effective vaccines against anthrax, and some forms of the disease respond well to antibiotic treatment.

Trivia about anthrax

  • The bacillus of this cattle disease was the 1st germ known to cause infectious disease
  • This bacterial cattle disease whose name is from the Greek for "coal" can be transmitted to humans
  • In 1613 some 60,000 died of this infectious disease in southern Europe
  • (Hi! I'm CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.) I joined CNN in 2001 & reported on the biological attacks of this bacillus in the news that October
  • A March 2002 story was on this bacterial toxin, months after the "first purposeful release" in the U.S.
  • Robert Koch, in 1876, was the first to identify the bacterium causing a specific disease, this disease of cattle & man
  • (Hi, I'm Scott Ian.) Some historians say this cattle-killing disease (as well as the name of my band) was the 5th plague of Egypt
  • In the 1870s germs of this disease of cattle became the first microorganism identified as a cause of illness
  • A fatal form of blood poisoning in cattle, or the group that recorded the 1985 album "Spreading the Disease"