Day 145: Anthrax

2001 was an interesting year to live in the Washington D.C. area. First there was 9/11. This was followed shortly thereafter by the D.C. Snipers who terrorized the area for several weeks. They randomly shot people who were out shopping, those filling up their gas tank, and even kids walking to school. Shortly after they caught the snipers, the area was again terrorized by someone mailing out letters containing anthrax spores. Several people died including some postal workers in the District. It was a crazy and pretty scary time to live in the Nation’s Capitol. I’m pretty sure I remember Sue threatening to pack up and move back to Utah on more than one occasion.

I was reminded today of the anthrax cases in D.C. as I saw for the first time a real case of anthrax. One interesting thing about practicing medicine in Afghanistan is that there are infectious diseases that we don’t normally see in the United States. Anthrax is one of these diseases. Most cases of anthrax cause skin disease. Sheep, cattle, goats, and camels carry the bacillus anthracis bacterium that causes anthrax. Those who are exposed often form large sores on their bodies. Untreated it carries about a 20% fatality rate. The really dangerous forms of anthrax are of the ingestion and inhalation variety, as was seen in D.C. These carry a very high death rate in those that are exposed--even if they are treated.

The gentleman seen below has cutaneous anthrax. The skin lesion is red and raised, with a central blackened area called an eschar. This guy will be started on treatment and will probably do just fine. It was an interesting case and a good reminder to you all that the next time you run into a stray camel...think twice before reaching out to pet him!