So we have heard of it, but what is it exactly? How do you get infected with Anthrax? Any cure?

Please fill us in with Anthrax :)

Overview

It is a bacterial infection caused by the spores of Bacillus Anthracis

It common among stock animals such as sheep & not very common in humans

After inhalation of the aerolized spores, the germination takes place in the lymph nodes which eventually release the toxins

Those toxins lead to haemmorhage of the lymph nodes of the chest, a condition known as haemmorhagic mediastinitis

Signs & symptoms

The disease has 2 stages which have common symptoms like other upper respiratory tract infections, the first stage which is characterised by flu like symptoms (cough, fever, headache, dyspnea...etc), the later stage has more sever symptoms & eventually shock & death

Vaccination, prophylaxis & treatment

There is no vaccination available for general public

Anyone with history of exposure can be started on prophylaxis with quinolones (such as Ciproflocaxin) or Penicillin

Those who have been diagnosed & underwent thorough investigations such as chest xray, blood & csf culture (csf obtained because anthrax can cause haemmorhagic meningitis) can be treated with Ciprofloxacin which the antibiotic of choice, treatment is for 2 months

However, the second stage of the disease is deadly in 90% of the cases

By the way, some countries have Anthrax as a biological weapon, Iraq was suppose to be one of them, but they never found those biological weapons yet in Iraq

:os
Hitman,Im sorry, but I still didnt understand this disease !!
your post had lots of medical vocabulary. im barely good at regular English vocabulary :os

$w€€ŧ¥, I tried to make it a simple as I could

Kindly ask what you didn't get :)

before you start reading, excuse me for the long post and some questions might sound silly but i got interested when u said biological weapon :Shock:

~ok first thing,I though the only illness that actually is for animals and can happen to humans is birds flue!! so im kinda confused :os, is it the same disease but more scientific name :think:

Signs & symptoms
what do you mean by upper respiratory tract infections when you saidThe disease has 2 stages which have common symptoms like other upper respiratory tract infections, Vaccination, prophylaxis & treatment There is no vaccination available for general publicvaccination (you mean "talgee7") :think:

Anyone with history of exposure can be started on prophylaxis with quinolones (such as Ciproflocaxin) or Penicillin meaning a person can be infected more than once!! and not die!? or it can just be circuling in the blood and needs to be injected with Penicillin on regular bases, something like diabtes or maybe some cases of HIV
Those who have been diagnosed & underwent thorough investigations such as chest xray, blood & csf culture (csf obtained because anthrax can cause haemmorhagic meningitis) can be treated with Ciprofloxacin which the antibiotic of choice, treatment is for 2 months<-- im assuming this for the later stage,correct me if im wrong

~up there u mentioned 2 ways of treatment (1)Penicillin (2)antibiotic and i assume they are different but i didnt understand based on what which treatmentent is given!

~what is csf culture?

~what happens when you get haemmorhagic meningitis from Anthrax?I mean can you describe it


again i aplogize for making this long and i hope i didnt make it hard but biological weapon :os

one last thing, what is it called in Arabic

~ok first thing,I though the only illness that actually is for animals and can happen to humans is birds flue!! so im kinda confused :os, is it the same disease but more scientific name :think:

No, bird flu is not Anthrax, bird flu is caused by the inlfuenza virus H5N1, whereas th latter is caused by spores of a bacterium called Bacillus Anthracis


what do you mean by upper respiratory tract infections

URTI means flu like & cough-cold like symptoms

vaccination (you mean "talgee7") :think:



Yes, talqee7 or 6a63eem whichever you prefer calling it

meaning a person can be infected more than once!! and not die!? or it can just be circuling in the blood and needs to be injected with Penicillin on regular bases, something like diabtes or maybe some cases of HIV

Someone who has been exposed to the spores but don't have any signs or symptoms can be given prophylactic/preventive treatment so they don't develop the disease



~up there u mentioned 2 ways of treatment (1)Penicillin (2)antibiotic and i assume they are different but i didnt understand based on what which treatmentent is given!

Since it is a bacterial infection, it should be treated with anibiotics & the above are examples of antibiotcs to which Anthrax responds depending on the strain

~what is csf culture?

CSF is cerebro-spinal-fluid, it is a clear fluid that acts like the cushion for the brain, protects it

~what happens when you get haemmorhagic meningitis from Anthrax?I mean can you describe it

Meningitis is the inflmammation & infection of the meninges, the the membrane layer that covers the CNS, there are 3 layers of meninges, their infection leads to severe headache with high fever & neck stiffness & even seizures


biological weapon

one last thing, what is it called in Arabic

Bioterrorism is when agents that cause infection & death are used as weapons

Read here:

Biological warfare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare)

Much better :)

thanks for the link

Rossonero good topic ;)