Forgive me if this has been asked before, I didn’t see it out there.
I keep reading news reports of people being exposed and then infected with Anthrax. The dumbed down media always specifies which “form” of the infection the person developed.
My question is this, are there really different forms of Anthrax, or is it all essentially the same Antrax spores infecting you in different places.
For example, suppose I had some of the Ames strain of Anthrax found in Brokaw’s office. If I breath it will I develop inhalation Anthrax, then if I touch the same spores would I get cutaneuos Anthrax, and if I ate it would I get intestinal Anthrax. I guess the point is, are certain strains of the bacteria only able to infect certain ways, or is it basically just dependant on how you’re exposed?
It’s my understanding that the different “forms” of Anthrax are actually different strains of the bacteria. They’re sort of like cousins: all related but each slightly different. Some strains might reproduce faster than others. Some may be resistant to certain antibiotics (this is the really scary part). I’m guessing they all use the same mechanisms to infect you.
When you hear the term “weapons grade” anthrax, they are talking about anthrax that has been very finely milled so as more likely to become aerosolized and inhaled. Inhalation causes a more deadly infection.
IIRC, there may be different strains but the type of infection depends on how the bacteria gains access to your body.
A local infection in a cut to the skin doesn’t give the bacteria the same access to your body as inhalation into the lungs, which is an organ hooked up directly to your bloodstream.
Simplistically, I believe that the mechanism of damage is that the bacteria produces 3 types of “toxins”: 1) a protein that forms a 7 unit channel through the cell membrane; 2) a protein that acts as signaling molecule (adenylate cyclase) in very common downstream cell receptor pathways; and 3) a protein that degrades another type of cell signalling molecule (MAPKK). Proteins 2 & 3 enter the cell through the channel made by 1.
So, the toxins totally fuck up a cell by disrupting the a lot of the internal signals that a cell needs to function properly.
There was an article in Science back a few months ago where the authors speculated that defective units of the first protein might block entry into the cell of the the 2nd and 3rd proteins (the ones that cause the damage) and be of some use as a treatment.