Anthrax disease burden: Impact on animal and human health

Review Article

International Journal of One Health, 10(1): 45-55

https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2024.45-55

Aswin Rafif Khairullah¹, Shendy Canadya Kurniawan², Mustofa Helmi Effendi³, Agus Widodo⁴, Abdullah Hasib⁵, Otto Sahat Martua Silaen⁶, Ikechukwu Benjamin Moses⁷, Sheila Marty Yanestria⁸, Maria Aega Gelolodo⁹, Dyah Ayu Kurniawati¹⁰, Sancaka Chasyer Ramandinianto¹¹, Daniah Ashri Afnani¹², Katty Hendriana Priscilia Riwu¹³, and Emmanuel Nnabuike Ugbo⁷

1. Division of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Jl. Dr. Ir. H. Soekarno, Kampus C Mulyorejo, Surabaya 60115, East Java, Indonesia.
2. Master Program of Animal Sciences, Department of Animal Sciences, Specialisation in Molecule, Cell and Organ Functioning, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen 6708 PB, Netherlands.
3. Division of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Jl. Dr. Ir. H. Soekarno, Kampus C Mulyorejo, Surabaya 60115, East Java, Indonesia.
4. Department of Health, Faculty of Vocational Studies, Universitas Airlangga, Jl. Dharmawangsa Dalam Selatan No. 28-30, Kampus B Airlangga, Surabaya 60115, East Java, Indonesia.
5. School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Queensland.
6. Doctoral Program in Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jl. Salemba Raya No. 6 Senen, Jakarta 10430, Indonesia.
7. Department of Applied Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki 480211, Nigeria.
8. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Wijaya Kusuma Surabaya, Jl. Dukuh Kupang XXV No.54, Dukuh Kupang, Dukuh Pakis, Surabaya 60225, East Java, Indonesia.
9. Department of Animal Infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Nusa Cendana, Jl. Adisucipto Penfui, Kupang 85001, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.
10. Indonesia Research Center for Veterinary Science, Jl. RE Martadinata No. 30, Bogor 16114, West Java, Indonesia.
11. Lingkar Satwa Animal Care Clinic. Jl. Sumatera No. 31L, Gubeng, Surabaya 60281, East Java, Indonesia.
12. Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Pendidikan Mandalika, Jl. Pemuda No. 59A, Dasan Agung Baru, Mataram 83125, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.
13. Department of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universitas Pendidikan Mandalika. Jl. Pemuda No. 59A, Dasan Agung Baru, Mataram 83125, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.

Background and Aim: Anthrax is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis. According to current knowledge, the disease originates in sub-Saharan Africa, especially Egypt and Mesopotamia. Laboratory tests involving direct staining or culture of samples taken from malignant pustules, sputum, blood, or patient discharge must be performed to establish a diagnosis. B. anthracis infection can enter the body through the skin, mouth, or nose. Human infection is usually caused by contact with infected animals or animal products. Anthrax causes a reduction in resource efficiency and decreases livestock productivity. B. anthracis spores are resistant to extreme temperatures, pressure, pH, drying, solvents, and ultraviolet light. The biological weapon of this disease may be fatal if it is designed to spread B. anthracis spores by aerosols. In the past, the treatment of human anthrax with penicillin at a high dose was the preferred method. The public can take several measures to prevent anthrax infection, such as purchasing and consuming meat that has been legally certified to have been slaughtered in a slaughterhouse, consuming healthy and properly cooked animal meat, and washing hands with antiseptic soap after handling, processing, and cooking animal products. This review aimed to describe the etiology, pathogenesis, mechanism of infection, epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical symptoms, transmission, risk factors, public health importance, economic impact, potential as a bio-warfare agent, treatment, and control of anthrax.

Keywords: animal health, anthrax, human health, infectious disease.

How to cite this article: Khairullah AR, Kurniawan SC, Effendi MH, Widodo A, Hasib A, Silaen OSM, Moses IB, Yanestria SM, Gelolodo MA, Kurniawati DA, Ramandinianto SC, Afnani DA, Riwu KHP, and Ugbo EN (2024) Anthrax disease burden: Impact on animal and human health, Int. J. One Health, 10(1): 45-55.

Received: 12-10-2023 Accepted: 02-02-2024 Published online: 14-02-2024

Corresponding author: Mustofa Helmi Effendi E-mail: mhelmieffendi@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2024.45-55

Copyright: Khairullah, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.