IUBio

Question...

larryn at ozemail.com.au larryn at ozemail.com.au
Sat Nov 4 19:25:15 EST 2000


On Thu, 02 Nov 2000 15:33:51 GMT, exo1a at my-deja.com wrote:

>In article <eifM5.14038$MR3.849065 at bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>,
>  "Jeffrey A. McCann" <j.mccann at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>>
>> <exo1a at my-deja.com> wrote in message news:8trrp9$1hv$1 at nnrp1.deja.com...
>>
>> > Actually anthrax is not communicable, but that was a good try.
>>
>>     Actually,  I am rather well trained in the emergency response to
>> biological and chemical terrorism, which is something I do as a member of a
>> US Public Health Service disaster response team.  So I do have little bit of
>> knowledge, although I am certainly not any kind of expert.  Nonetheless,
>> according to my rather faulty memory, the disease is, in fact, communicable.
>> Anthrax is caused by Bacillus Anthracis, a bacterium that lives naturally in
>> certain types of soil. The bacterium produces spores. Spores are hardy forms
>> of the bacterium that can survive in soil or on contaminated objects for
>> years.  Animals get anthrax by grazing on soils contaminated with anthrax
>> spores. People can get anthrax by contact with infected animals or people.
>> The bacteria get into the body through a break in the skin. In rare cases,
>> people can get anthrax by breathing in anthrax spores from contaminated soil
>> or animal products or by eating undercooked meat from infected animals.
>> Please let me know if I got this wrong.  But since you seem to have some
>> knowledge of the disease, why the heck do you want to know more about, and
>> impliedly want to culture anthrax?
>
>Everything you have said is true.  But, if a person is infected with
>anthrax, they cannot spread it to other people.  It is not contageous.

1==> I think you would get a lot of argument on that.  Will quote the
lead paragraph from Encarta as many readers can easily check this.
"Anthrax," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.  

      "Anthrax, contagious disease of warm-blooded animals, including
humans, caused by the bacterium /Bacillus anthracis/. One of the
oldest known diseases, it was once epidemic and still appears in many
world areas, but only sporadically in the western and southern United
States. It was the first disease for which the causative organism was
isolated, by C. J. Davaine in 1863, for which a pure culture was
obtained, by Robert Koch in 1876, and for which an effective vaccine
was developed, by Louis Pasteur in 1881."

2==> Out of curiosity, where did you get the idea that it wasn't
contagious? 

—larryn







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