Anthrax is a potentially fatal bacterial infection that can occur in three forms: pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and cutaneous. The disease is rare in humans but more common in grazing animals. While difficult to contract, anthrax can be transmitted through skin contact, eating contaminated food, or breathing spores. Louis Pasteur's pioneering work in the 1870s developing an anthrax vaccine helped launch further research. Modern controversies around anthrax vaccines focus on their safety and side effects. Overall, anthrax research aims to understand the disease and develop effective countermeasures.

1. Cell World Project
Script On Anthrax
By Andrew Smith

2.  Anthrax is an infection that is usually caused by a bacteria called
“bacillus anthracis.” Most of the cases of this fatal disease are
found in farm animals who graze a lot like sheep or cows. The
disease anthrax can occur in humans though it is EXTERMELY
unlikely. Anthrax has three different types all of which are
usually fatal. The first is extremely simple and discrete. It gets
into your lungs and gives you symptoms as if you had the flu. It
then will cause your respiratory system to fail and kill you. The
second is when it is called gastroenteric anthrax which is when it
is ingested. This will cause vomit of blood, loss of appetite,
severe diarrhea, and even inflammation of the intestines. After
that it continues to you blood stream and then creates toxins
which from there on will go throughout your body. The third
type of anthrax is called Cutaneous anthrax and is conducted
from cuts in the skin. This type of anthrax will appear as a black
lesion on the skin. This type of anthrax is not as fatal as the
other types but if it is not treated by a doctor, it will make its way
to the bloodstream and then have the same effects as
gastoenteric anthrax.

3.  Anthrax is not spread easily, it would be very
hard to get this disease. Most of the time
anthrax is conducted from working around
grazing animals. There are three main ways it is
spread. In can be spread through food that is
contaminated, it can be spread through contact
with an open wound or sore, and it can be
spread through the air by breathing the spores.
Luckily, anthrax and not be spread from human
to human which lowers our chances of
contracting this disease. The environment that
anthrax tends to feed off of is farmland. It can
be found in the soil there and even in its grazing
animals.

4.  Anthrax has been shown to cut
and deactivate mitogen-
activated protein kinase in the
human body. MAPK (Mitogen-
activated protein kinase) is what
regulates the flow of important
cellular functions like survival
and differentiation.

5.  In the 1870’s Louis Pasteur began to try to use a
method to immunize his chickens from getting
Anthrax. After some research, he ran a test, he
had 2 groups of 25 sheep one goat and a few
cows. He injected half of them with his Anthrax
immunization vaccine, and the other half he did
not. He then injected live anthrax into all of
them, the ones without the vaccine died but the
ones with it survived. Due to Pasteur’s discovery
on Anthrax and trying cure it sparked the flame
and other began to research Anthrax more and
more and learn more about it.

6.  Recently not many people have become infected
with the Anthrax disease, this is because it is so
hard to catch. One of the biggest anthrax
attacks though was in 2001. In 2001 Army
scientists were toying with the idea of using
Anthrax in weapons. They accidently
contaminated some postal mail which then made
it too its recipitents. This infected several people
and ha d a total death rate of 5. This is still a
case being investigated today. Another death
occurred recently in Blackpool in 2012 to a drug
user who may have taken the drug heroin which
was contaminated with Anthrax.

7.  Research on anthrax does help
us learn new things about the
disease. It shows us how the
disease works and what it does
to the body. Research helps us
develope ways to stop this
infection and to also counter
attack it once one has it.

8.  Theobstacles that
researchers face with
anthrax are not too many.
The first being that the
disease is so rare that
studying a human patient
with anthrax is hard to
come by.

9.  When a vaccine for anthrax was
being created there was much
controversy whether or not the
vaccines were going to be safe
and if they would even work.
500,000 U.S. Army Troops
received the vaccination and
.05% reported that they had
reactions to this vaccine. Still,
people believed and believe that
this vaccine may not be safe.

10.  When a vaccine for anthrax was
being created there was much
controversy whether or not the
vaccines were going to be safe
and if they would even work.
500,000 U.S. Army Troops
received the vaccination and
.05% reported that they had
reactions to this vaccine. Still,
people believed and believe that
this vaccine may not be safe.

11. Alot for people report of
having long term effects after
the vaccine which shows that
the controversy is right
because there is in fact
something possibly wrong
with this vaccine. This
information was taken from
an article in 2001.

12.  There are no visible ethical
implications to be found within
the research of human Anthrax
vaccines, as Vaccines were
developed to protect humans
from weaponized Anthrax.
Anthrax research provides
modern doctors with more insight
about other diseases that may be
weaponized that may be used in
biological warfare.

13. The End!
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