Anthrax
From SourceWatch
According to a "Statement on the Safety and Efficacy of the Anthrax Vaccine" by Kathryn C. Zoon, Ph.D., Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Before the House Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs, and International Relations, on April 29, 1999:
Anthrax "is a highly infectious disease caused by spores of a bacterium known as Bacillus anthracis. These spores resist destruction and may be present in the soil for decades, occasionally infecting grazing animals that ingest the spores. Goats, sheep and cattle are examples of animals that may become infected. Human infection may occur by three routes of exposure to anthrax spores: cutaneous, gastrointestinal, and pulmonary. Skin contact with live infected animals, or with the hide, hair or bones of an infected animal may lead to infection of a person's skin, known as cutaneous anthrax infection. This is the most common manifestation of anthrax in humans, accounting for more than 95 percent of cases. Eating undercooked or raw infected meat can cause gastrointestinal anthrax infection. Breathing in airborne spores may lead to pulmonary anthrax, also known as inhalation anthrax.
"Experience has shown that inhalation anthrax has a very high mortality rate, with estimates ranging from 80 percent to 90 percent or higher. Untreated cutaneous anthrax infection is associated with a death rate estimated to be approximately 20 percent.
"Inhalation anthrax infection has two phases. During the first phase, which occurs within one to five days after inhalation of the spores, the patient has influenza-like symptoms, such as a cough, malaise, fatigue and mild fever. Several days later these symptoms may subside, but are rapidly followed by the second, more severe stage of disease. During the second phase, the patient experiences sudden onset of severe respiratory distress, and sometimes chest pain accompanied by fever. Chest x-rays may show fluid in the lung. Within a day, septic shock and death will likely occur.
"The only known effective prevention against anthrax is the anthrax vaccine. Treatment of cutaneous anthrax infection involves administration of antibiotics. In the case of pulmonary anthrax infection, therapy has been of limited benefit, except when given immediately after exposure.
"Prior to use of the anthrax vaccine, cases of human anthrax infection in the United States were much more prevalent. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there were approximately 130 reported cases of anthrax infection per year at the start of this century. In the past decade, there have been years with no reported cases of human anthrax infection in the United States. It is difficult to assess exactly how much of this dramatic reduction is due to the vaccine, but immunization with the anthrax vaccine of people at risk, along with vaccination of animals against anthrax, have likely contributed to this favorable decline. Elsewhere in the world, human anthrax cases continue to be reported, especially in countries with predominately agricultural economies."
