Anthrax—a bacterial disease with dangerous potential as a biological or bioterrorist weapon—is spreading at an alarming rate in Zambia and a handful of nearby African countries, the World Health Organization warned on Monday, sounding the alarm as health officials rush to gain control of the situation amid fears of a wider outbreak in the region.
KEY FACTS
Anthrax is a rare but serious and potentially fatal disease caused by bacteria that are found naturally in soil around the world, and were weaponized as a fine powder and sent in letters to politicians and media outlets in 2001.
It typically affects wild and domestic animals—notably herbivores like cattle, sheep, goats, antelope and deer—but it can infect humans when they come into contact with infected animals or a contaminated object.
Once inside the body, anthrax microbes multiply, produce potent toxins and trigger illness, with the kind of illness depending on how anthrax got into the body.
The vast majority of human cases—upwards of 90%—comprise cutaneous, or skin, anthrax acquired through breaks in the skin, with symptoms like itchy blisters or bumps, a skin sore and swelling usually appearing around the site of infection between one to seven days after exposure.
Other forms of human anthrax come after inhalation—the deadliest form of the disease that can arise months after exposure and trigger severe breathing problems and shock—and ingesting contaminated material (known as gastrointestinal anthrax), which can cause a wide array of symptoms that can be similar to food poisoning.