PUNE, Oct 13 (UNI): Anthrax, that is suspected to be spreading in the United States media centres, is not new to India, as reports of people being affected by this deadly disease have been prominent in the southern belt of the country in recent years.
Around 35 cases of human anthrax were reported in Pondicherry from 1990 to February 2000 and 49 cases have been diagnosed in Tamil Nadu.
Chiefly an animal disease occuring in cattle, sheep, goats, camels and antelopes, anthrax, also known as "woolsorters disease", is caused by the Bacterium Bacillus Anthracis.
Fifty kilograms of the Pathogen, if released in a population of 500,000, under moderate upwind conditions, can cause 95,000 deaths, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) ratings.
"The Pathogen, itself, is extremely sturdy," says Dr Renu Bhardwaj, head of the microbiology department at the B J Medical College here.
It can survive high temperatures and while most other microbes can sustain at the most upto 60 degrees celsius, it takes more than 100 degrees to kill this one, she adds.
Bacillus Anthracis is equipped with an extra capacity to survive the most adverse conditions.
This bacteria can turn into spores during "Rough Times", only to be rejuvenated again under favourable conditions.
Also, anthrax spores can live indefinitely long, when buried in soil beyond the reach of sunlight.
Inhalation of the spores causes severe pulmonary complications, that could prove fatal.
The bacteria releases toxins which get deposited in the respiratory tract and causes haemorrhage, dr Bhardwaj says.
Apart from the lethal pulmonary infection, the Pathogen can cause mild infections also , cutaneous anthrax, is the mildest form of anthrax and is caused when the spores fall on the skin.
The intestinal infection is caused through ingestion of contaminated food, especially meat, that leads to vomiting of blood, abdominal pain and severe diahorrea.
The lethality of pulmonary infection can be gauged from the fact that 66 persons were killed following an accidental release of the Pathogen into the air from a microbiology laboratory in the erstwhile ussr in 1979 and that too, along a four-kilometre path, says Dr Bhardwaj, quoting medical records.
But, at the same time, she maintains that anthrax is easy to diagnose and treat.
A whole range of Pathogens, from the plague Pathogen to the smallpox virus, can be used as biological weapons, but anthrax tops the "favourites list" of the terrorists as it is easily cultured and, due to the tenacity of the spores, can be easily powdered.
