Anthrax: Skin Infection, with Symptoms & Causes

What is anthrax?

Anthrax is a disease caused by a kind of bacteria. It can make you ill in several different ways, depending on how you’re exposed to it. It can cause a skin infection, or a severe digestive illness that resembles “food poisoning.” Another form of the disease – “inhalation” anthrax – results when you breathe in the bacteria. Symptoms usually show up within seven days (typically two to five days) after you’re exposed. Symptoms depend on the form the disease takes:

1. Cutaneous (skin) anthrax begins as a raised bump on the skin. Within one or two days, it becomes a blister, and then a painless ulcer, with a black area in the center. Lymph glands near the wound may become swollen. Skin anthrax is easily treated with antibiotics.
2. Intestinal anthrax is very rare. It begins with nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, and fever. Those symptoms are followed by abdominal pain, vomiting of blood, and severe diarrhea. Early antibiotic treatment is important if you have intestinal anthrax.
3. Inhalation anthrax begins with flu-like symptoms (cough, fever, muscle aches). These symptoms may last two to three days, and then appear to go away for one or two days. Then the illness can come back, resulting in severe lung problems, difficulty breathing, and shock. Unless it’s treated, inhalation anthrax can be very dangerous – it’s fatal in up to 90 percent of cases. With treatment, during the anthrax attacks of 2001, the death rate was about 40 percent.

Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by anthrax bacteria. The bacteria are spread in the form of spores. A spore is a protective covering on the bacteria, like the shell of a seed. The spore keeps the bacteria alive for long periods of time, waiting for the right condition to grow.

Anthrax can cause an infection in the skin, stomach and intestines (gastrointestinal tract), or lungs. People can become infected with anthrax by getting the spores in their bodies. This usually happens by handling infected animals or animal products. Skin (cutaneous) anthrax occurs after the bacterial spores come in contact with an opening in the skin, such as a cut or scrape.

50. Not everyone exposed will get sick.
50. If the infection occurs after exposure, symptoms often start within 1 to 7 days.
50. The disease starts as a small red bump (like an insect bite) that turns into a blister.
50. The blister breaks in 1 to 2 days. Then a painless black sore forms. This sore dries up in 1 to 2 weeks

Skin anthrax symptoms start as bumps or blisters, but then get worse. Symptoms can include:

50. A group of small blisters or bumps that may itch
50. A painless skin sore (ulcer) with a black center that appears after the small blisters or bumps
50. Often, a sore on the face, neck, arms, or hands
50. Swelling around the sore

Although it's very rare, it's possible for the skin form of anthrax to be passed on to another person. As an extra precaution, follow the instructions below.

Check with Dermatology Specialist if you experience symptoms. Examination and treatment done as early as possible can prevent the infection from spreading and getting worse.