(5) Disinfect contaminated areas. Use care when handling placenta,
discharges, and fetus from aborted animals (protective clothing, rubber gloves).
(6)
Inspect meat.
e. Control.
(1)
Report cases to the local health authority.
(2)
Disinfect purulent discharges concurrently.
(3)
Treat animals if brucellosis is suspected--investigate for source of
infection.
(4)
Provide pasteurization of milk and milk products or stop the distribution
of them.
(5)
Control the transport of animal products and domestic animals.
2-5.
ANTHRAX
a. General. Anthrax (malignant pustule, wool sorter's disease) is an acute
bacterial disease of wild animals, especially ruminants. It usually affects the skin, but
rarely involves the mediastinum or intestinal tract. In industrial countries, there are
infrequent and sporadic outbreaks, but it is primarily an occupational hazard of
processors of animal hair, hides, bone, bone products, or wool. Veterinarians and
agricultural workers who handle infected animals are also subjected to anthrax. The
spores of B. anthraces may stay viable in contaminated soil after the source--animal
infection--has been terminated. These spores are very resistant to disinfection. In
addition to contact with animal tissues, anthrax may be transmitted through
contaminated wool, hair, hides, or even by-products made from them (brushes, drums, and
so forth). The ingestion of contaminated meat causes intestinal anthrax, and the disease
can be spread by contaminated feed to omnivorous and carnivorous animals. Organisms
have even spread to other areas by vultures.
b. Signs and Symptoms.
(1) The cutaneous form. This type of anthrax affects the victim's hands,
arms, neck, or face. The skin lesions are small erythematous (red-brown) papules that
become vesicular, necrotic, and covered with a dark crust or eschar. The disease is
characterized by an intense nonpitting edema, pruritus, a lack of tenderness, and mild
regional lymph node enlargement. If untreated, the fatality rate is 5 percent to 20
percent, but with antibiotic administration, few deaths occur.
MD0589
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