'A remedy for this dread disease': Achille Sclavo, anthrax and serum therapy in early twentieth-century Britain

In the years around 1900 one of the most significant practical consequences of new styles of bacteriological thought and practice was the development of preventive vaccines and therapeutic sera. Historical scholarship has highlighted how approaches rooted in the laboratory methods of Robert Koch, Louis Pasteur and their collaborators were transformed in local contexts and applied in diverse ways to enable more effective disease identification, prevention and treatment. Amongst these, the anti-anthrax serum developed by the Italian physician Achille Sclavo (1861-1930) has received little to no attention from historians. This article positions Sclavo's serum as a neglected but significant presence in British microbiology, which achieved widespread uptake amidst a wave of optimism, despite prolonged uncertainty about its mechanism of action and dosage. After being introduced to Britain in 1904 by the enterprising first medical inspector of factories Thomas Morison Legge, within a matter of months the serum became regarded by medical practitioners as an effective treatment of cutaneous anthrax, though access to 'fresh' serum and the necessary speedy diagnosis remained problematic. Like the disease anthrax itself, discussion of 'Sclavo's serum' was out of all proportion to the relatively low number of cases, reflecting a deep-seated fascination with the wider possibilities afforded by effective serum therapy.

Anthrax Epizootic in Wildlife, Bwabwata National Park, Namibia, 2017

In late September 2017, Bwabwata National Park in Namibia experienced a sudden die-off of hippopotamuses and Cape buffalo. A multiorganizational response was initiated, involving several ministries within Namibia and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rapid interventions resulted in zero human or livestock cases associated with this epizootic.

Anthrax Cases Associated with Animal-Hair Shaving Brushes

During the First World War, anthrax cases in the United States and England increased greatly and seemed to be associated with use of new shaving brushes. Further investigation revealed that the source material and origin of shaving brushes had changed during the war. Cheap brushes of imported horsehair were being made to look like the preferred badger-hair brushes. Unfortunately, some of these brushes were not effectively disinfected and brought with them a nasty stowaway: Bacillus anthracis. A review of outbreak summaries, surveillance data, and case reports indicated that these cases originated from the use of ineffectively disinfected animal-hair shaving brushes. This historical information is relevant to current public health practice because renewed interest in vintage and animal-hair shaving brushes has been seen in popular culture. This information should help healthcare providers and public health officials answer questions on this topic.

Anthrax of domestic animals in Vrbas Banate: from traditional beliefs to the first scientific views on the ancient disease

From 1929 to 1941, the Vrbas Banate was one of nine provinces of the Kingdom Yugoslavia, and according to historical data, the poorest one, without well-organized and sustainable agriculture production. Naturalistic production and poor animal health control in the Vrbas Banate were the most important risk factors for infectious disease spreading. Anthrax was very prevalent infectious disease in domestic animals and humans in that period, but some data on this disease remain scarce. In this paper epidemiology and clinical investigation of anthrax in the Vrbas Banate are reviewed. Apart from many aggravating factors that influenced the control of anthrax, the veterinary service of Banate contributed to the development of animal husbandry, animal health and public health in that period.

Redefining the Australian Anthrax Belt: Modeling the Ecological Niche and Predicting the Geographic Distribution of Bacillus anthracis

The ecology and distribution of B. anthracis in Australia is not well understood, despite the continued occurrence of anthrax outbreaks in the eastern states of the country. Efforts to estimate the spatial extent of the risk of disease have been limited to a qualitative definition of an anthrax belt extending from southeast Queensland through the centre of New South Wales and into northern Victoria. This definition of the anthrax belt does not consider the role of environmental conditions in the distribution of B. anthracis. Here, we used the genetic algorithm for rule-set prediction model system (GARP), historical anthrax outbreaks and environmental data to model the ecological niche of B. anthracis and predict its potential geographic distribution in Australia. Our models reveal the niche of B. anthracis in Australia is characterized by a narrow range of ecological conditions concentrated in two disjunct corridors. The most dominant corridor, used to redefine a new anthrax belt, parallels the Eastern Highlands and runs from north Victoria to central east Queensland through the centre of New South Wales. This study has redefined the anthrax belt in eastern Australia and provides insights about the ecological factors that limit the distribution of B. anthracis at the continental scale for Australia. The geographic distributions identified can help inform anthrax surveillance strategies by public and veterinary health agencies.

This study explores the spatial ecology of Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax disease, in Australia. Globally, anthrax is a neglected zoonotic disease that primarily affect herbivores and incidentally humans and all warm-blooded animals. Here, we used historic anthrax outbreaks for the period 1996–2013 and environmental factors in an ecological niche modelling framework to quantitatively define the ecological niche of B. anthracis using a genetic algorithm. This was projected onto the continental landscape of Australia to predict the geographic distribution of the pathogen. The ecological niche of B. anthracis is characterized by a narrow range of ecological conditions, which are geographically concentrated in two disjunct corridors: a dominant corridor paralleling the Eastern Highlands runs from north Victoria to central east Queensland through the centre of New South Wales, while another corridor was predicted in the southwest of Western Australia. These findings provide an estimate of the potential geographic distribution of B. anthracis, and can help inform anthrax disease surveillance across Australia.

Spatiotemporal Clustering Analysis and Risk Assessments of Human Cutaneous Anthrax in China, 2005-2012

Objective

To investigate the epidemic characteristics of human cutaneous anthrax (CA) in China, detect the spatiotemporal clusters at the county level for preemptive public health interventions, and evaluate the differences in the epidemiological characteristics within and outside clusters.

Methods

CA cases reported during 2005–2012 from the national surveillance system were evaluated at the county level using space-time scan statistic. Comparative analysis of the epidemic characteristics within and outside identified clusters was performed using using the χ² test or Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results

The group of 30–39 years had the highest incidence of CA, and the fatality rate increased with age, with persons ≥70 years showing a fatality rate of 4.04%. Seasonality analysis showed that most of CA cases occurred between May/June and September/October of each year. The primary spatiotemporal cluster contained 19 counties from June 2006 to May 2010, and it was mainly located straddling the borders of Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces. In these high-risk areas, CA cases were predominantly found among younger, local, males, shepherds, who were living on agriculture and stockbreeding and characterized with high morbidity, low mortality and a shorter period from illness onset to diagnosis.

Conclusion

CA was geographically and persistently clustered in the Southwestern China during 2005–2012, with notable differences in the epidemic characteristics within and outside spatiotemporal clusters; this demonstrates the necessity for CA interventions such as enhanced surveillance, health education, mandatory and standard decontamination or disinfection procedures to be geographically targeted to the areas identified in this study.

Confirmed Bacillus anthracis infection among persons who inject drugs, Scotland, 2009-2010

Patients who died had an increased sequential organ failure assessment score and need for vasopressors.

Robert Koch (1843-1910) and dermatology on his 171st birthday

Robert Koch (1843-1910) received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1905 for his studies of tuberculosis. He contributed significantly to microbiology, isolating also cholera and anthrax pathogens, and introducing several postulates in this field. In addition, he developed staining methods, as well as culturing and microscopic techniques. Many of his achievements have also influenced dermatology. This contribution reviews his life and major achievements on the occasion of the 171st anniversary of his birth.

[S. S. Andreyevsky a scientist and reformer of medical work in Russia]

The article deals with the activities of S. S. Andreyevsky--a heroic researcher of anthrax, known public health organizer and public figure. He played an important role in the development of Russian medical education.

A poster of pustules: representations of early twentieth century industrial anthrax in Britain

In the decades around 1900, industrial anthrax attracted significant attention from medical practitioners, legislators and the general public in Britain. Attempts to reduce the incidence of the disease ranged from basic health measures - preventing workmen from eating inside factories and trialling the use of respirators - through to national legislation making disinfection of dangerous materials mandatory. Another effort involved the production of industrial warning posters (or cautionary notices) which were designed for use in the factory environment. In the case of anthrax, the context in which these notices appeared adds to our understanding of not only the disease itself, but also the relations between those producing such posters and those who encountered them in an industrial setting.

The plague of the Philistines and other pestilences in the Ancient World: exploring relations between the religious-literary tradition, artistic evidence and scientific proof

In ancient times the term pestilence referred not only to infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis, but also to several different epidemics. We explore the relations between references in the Bible and recent scientific evidence concerning some infectious diseases, especially the so-called Plague of the Philistines and leprosy. In addition, some considerations regarding possible connections among likely infectious epidemic diseases and the Ten Plagues of Egypt are reported. Evidence suggesting the presence of the rat in the Nile Valley in the II millennium BC is shown; a possible role of the rat in the plague spreading already in this historical period should be confirmed by these data. While the biblical tale in the Book of Samuel may well report an epidemic event resembling the plague, as to date this infectious disease remains unknown, it is not conceivable to confirm the presence of leprosy in the same age, because the little palaeopathologic evidence of the latter disease, in the geographic area corresponding to Egypt and Palestine, is late, dating back only to the II century AD.

Anthrax in transit; practical experience and intellectual exchange

Focusing on three Anglo-American outbreaks of industrial anthrax, this essay engages the question of how local circumstances influenced the transmission of scientific knowledge in the late nineteenth century. Walpole (Massachusetts), Glasgow, and Bradford (Yorkshire) served as important nodes of transnational investigation into anthrax. Knowledge about the morphology and behavior of Bacillus anthracis changed little while in transit between these nodes, even during complex debates about the nature of bacterial morphology, disease causation, and spontaneous generation. Working independently of their more famous counterparts (Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur), Anglo-American anthrax investigators used visual representations of anthrax bacilli to persuade their peers that a specific, identifiable cause produced all forms of anthrax-malignant pustule (cutaneous anthrax), intestinal anthrax, and woolsorter's disease (pneumonic anthrax). By the late 1870s, this point of view also supported what we would today call an ecological notion of the disease's origins in the interactions of people, animals, and microorganisms in the context of global commerce.

Producing, controlling, and stabilizing Pasteur's anthrax vaccine: creating a new industry and a health market

When Pasteur and Chamberland hastily set up their small biological industry to meet the agricultural demand for the anthrax vaccine, their methods for preparation and production had not yet been stabilized. The process of learning how to standardize biological products was accelerated in 1882 when vaccination accidents required the revision of production norms as the first hypotheses on fixity, inalterability, and transportability of vaccines were invalidated and replaced by procedures for continuous monitoring of the calibration of vaccines and the renewal of vaccine strains. Initially, the incompleteness and ongoing development of production standards justified Pasteur's monopoly on the production of the anthrax vaccine under his immediate supervision. Later on, the Pasteur Institute maintained control of these standards in the framework of a commercial monopoly that it established on the veterinary vaccines first sent and then cultivated abroad by the Société de Vulgarisation du Vaccin Charbonneux Pasteur, founded in 1886.

[Anthrax in the canton of Zurich between 1878 and 2005]

Historical records reporting cases of animal anthrax in the canton of Zurich between 1878 and 2005 were analysed on the level of political communities regarding occurrence and number of cases, animals affected, and number of communities affected. Data were correlated with industrial activities (tanning, wool and horse hair processing) in a community and to the prevailing meteorological conditions. A total of 830 cases of animal anthrax has been recorded in 140 of 171 communities. Occurrence correlated with industrial activities in a community such as companies handling potentially contaminated materials (hides, fur, wool, hair, meat, or bone meal). The influence of wool processing companies (P = 0. 004) and tanneries (P = 0. 032) was significant whereas horse hair processing had no effect. However, a statistical relationship between the number of cases reported and meteorological data (rainfall, mean temperature) was not found.

Public health and bioterrorism: renewed threat of anthrax and smallpox

Bioterrorism is one of the main public health categorical domains. According to sociological analytics, in postmodern society terrorism is one of the real threats of the 21st century. While rare, the use of biological weapons has a long history. Recently, anthrax has been evaluated as one of the most dangerous biological weapons. Naturally occurring anthrax in humans is a disease acquired from contact with anthrax-infected animals or anthrax-contaminated animal products. Usually anthrax infection occurs in humans by three major routes: inhalational, cutaneous, and gastrointestinal. Inhalational anthrax is expected to account for most serious morbidity and most mortality. The clinical presentation of inhalation anthrax has been described as a two-stage illness. Many factors contribute to the pathogenesis of Bacillus anthracis. Antibiotics, anthrax globulin, corticosteroids, mechanical ventilation, vaccine are possible tools of therapy. Smallpox existed in two forms: variola major, which accounted for most morbidity and mortality, and a milder form, variola minor. Smallpox spreads from person to person primarily by droplet nuclei or aerosols expelled from the oropharynx of infected persons and by direct contact. In the event of limited outbreak with few cases, patients should be admitted to the hospital and confined to rooms that are under negative pressure and equipped with high-efficiency particulate air filtration. In larger outbreaks, home isolation and care should be the objective for most patients. Progress in detection, suitable vaccines, postexposure prophylaxis, infection control, and decontamination might be serious tools in fight against the most powerful biological weapon. To assure that the public health and healthcare system can respond to emergencies, the government should direct resources to strengthen the emergency-response system, create medication stockpiles, and improve the public health infrastructure.

Anthrax vaccines: Pasteur to the present

Anthrax has been a major cause of death in grazing animals and an occasional cause of death in humans for thousands of years. Since the late 1800s there has been an exceptional international history of anthrax vaccine development. Due to animal vaccinations, the rate of infection has dropped dramatically. Anthrax vaccines have progressed from uncharacterized whole-cell vaccines in 1881, to pXO2-negative spores in the 1930s, to culture filtrates absorbed to aluminum hydroxide in 1970, and likely to recombinant protective antigen in the near future. Each of these refinements has increased safety without significant loss of efficacy. The threat of genetically engineered, antibiotic and vaccine resistant strains of Bacillus anthracis is fueling hypothesis-driven research and global techniques--including genomics, proteomics and transposon site hybridization--to facilitate the discovery of novel vaccine targets. This review highlights historical achievements and new developments in anthrax vaccine research.

100th anniversary of Robert Koch's Nobel Prize for the discovery of the tubercle bacillus

The year 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of Robert Koch's Nobel Prize. Here, we describe the scientific career of Robert Koch, the discoverer of the etiologic agent of tuberculosis but also of those of anthrax, cholera and wound infections. Equally important, Koch developed the methodologies and concepts that made medical microbiology a scientific discipline. Despite great efforts, however, Koch failed to conquer tuberculosis, which still causes enormous health problems worldwide 100 years after his Nobel award.

Appropriation and commercialization of the Pasteur anthrax vaccine

Whereas Pasteur patented the biotechnological processes that he invented between 1857 and 1873 in the agro-food domain, he did not file any patents on the artificial vaccine preparation processes that he subsequently developed. This absence of patents can probably be explained by the 1844 patent law in France that established the non-patentable status of pharmaceutical preparations and remedies, including those for use in veterinary medicine. Despite the absence of patents, the commercial exploitation of the anthrax vaccine in the 1880s and 1890s led to a technical and commercial monopoly by Pasteur's laboratory as well as the founding of a commercial company to diffuse the vaccine abroad. Pasteur repeatedly refused to transfer his know-how and anthrax vaccine production methods to foreign laboratories, on the grounds that he wished to control the quality of the vaccines produced. Indeed, it was relatively difficult to transfer a method that was not yet perfectly stabilized in the early 1880s. Pasteur also wanted to maintain the monopoly of his commercial company and to increase the profits from vaccine sales so that the Institut Pasteur could be financially independent. The 'Pasteur anthrax vaccine' operating licences are described and analysed in detail in this article.

Thomas Morison Legge (1863-1932): the first medical factory inspector

After a brief career in public health, Thomas Morison Legge was appointed to become the first medical factory inspector, in 1898, and remained in post until his resignation in 1927. During his tenure in office he became the leading authority on lead poisoning and anthrax; he resigned when the government refused to ratify the White Lead Convention. Subsequently he became the first medical adviser to the Trades Union Congress.

The history of woolsorters' disease: a Yorkshire beginning with an international future?

Woolsorters' disease was a feared industrial disease associated primarily with Yorkshire's textile industry of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Early occupational health methods were attempted locally before concerted national efforts produced legislative measures. When its link with anthrax was established, attention in prevention focused upon chemical disinfection methods. Together, these factors were instrumental in decreasing the incidence of woolsorters' disease. However, by the beginning of the Second World War, the lack of treatment options for anthrax meant that the bacterium was experimented upon as a potential war-winning weapon. Today, woolsorters' disease and other industrial manifestations of anthrax are extremely rare, but the increasing threat of bioterrorism means that the international dread and historical lessons of this significant condition should never be forgotten. Consequently, this paper reveals the history of woolsorters' disease in order to remind those involved in occupational medicine today of the dread it caused both physicians and workers in previous generations.

Biological agents with potential for misuse: a historical perspective and defensive measures

Biological and chemical agents capable of producing serious illness or mortality have been used in biowarfare from ancient times. Use of these agents has progressed from crude forms in early and middle ages, when snakes and infected cadavers were used as weapons in battles, to sophisticated preparations for use during and after the second World War. Cults and terrorist organizations have attempted the use of biological agents with an aim to immobilize populations or cause serious harm. The reasons for interest in these agents by individuals and organizations include relative ease of acquisition, potential for causing mass casualty or panic, modest financing requirement, availability of technology, and relative ease of delivery. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified Critical Biological Agents into three major categories. This classification was based on several criteria, which include severity of impact on human health, potential for delivery in a weapon, capacity to cause panic and special needs for development, and stockpiling of medication. Agents that could cause the greatest harm following deliberate use were placed in category A. Category B included agents capable of producing serious harm and significant mortality but of lower magnitude than category A agents. Category C included emerging pathogens that could be developed for mass dispersion in future and their potential as a major health threat. A brief description of the category A bioagents is included and the pathophysiology of two particularly prominent agents, namely anthrax and smallpox, is discussed in detail. The potential danger from biological agents and their ever increasing threat to human populations have created a need for developing technologies for their early detection, for developing treatment strategies, and for refinement of procedures to ensure survival of affected individuals so as to attain the ultimate goal of eliminating the threat from intentional use of these agents. International treaties limiting development and proliferation of weapons and continuing development of defense strategies and safe guards against agents of concern are important elements of plans for eliminating this threat.

The plague under Marcus Aurelius and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire of the second century was a superpower that, in relative terms, dominated its world as much as the United States does today. In 166 AD, a plague broke out od pandemic proportions. The pandemic ravaged the entire extent of the Roman Empire, from its eastern frontiers in Iraq to its western frontiers on the Rhine River and Gaul, modern France, and western Germany. The disease is identified most often as smallpox, but it may have been anthrax. The study of bacterial DNA may enable identification of this plague that ravaged the Roman Empire at recurrent intervals for more than 100 years and that had a significant role in the decline and fall of this great superpower.

The dissemination of anthrax from imported wool: Kidderminster 1900-14

BACKGROUND

A century ago anthrax was a continuing health risk in the town of Kidderminster. The distribution of cases in people and in animals provides an indication of the routes by which spores were disseminated. The response to these cases provides an insight into attitudes to an occupational and environmental risk at the time and can be compared with responses in more recent times.

AIMS

To assess the distribution of anthrax cases associated with the use of contaminated wool and to review the response to them.

METHODS

The area studied was Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England, from 1900 to 1914. Data sources were national records of the Factory Inspectorate and local records from the infirmary, Medical Officer of Health and inquest reports, and county agricultural records, supplemented by contemporary and later review articles. Case reports and summary data were analysed, and discussions and actions taken to improve precautions reviewed.

RESULTS

There were 36 cases of anthrax, with five deaths, one of which was the sole case of the internal form of the disease. Cases of cutaneous anthrax were most frequently found in those handling raw wool, but they also occurred in workers at later stages of the spinning process and in people with little or no recorded exposure to contaminated wool. Limited precautionary measures were in place at the start of the study period. Some improvements were made, especially in the treatment of infections, but wool with a high risk of anthrax contamination continued to be used and cases continued to arise. Major changes were made to the disposal of waste and to agricultural practice in contaminated areas to curtail outbreaks in farm animals.

CONCLUSIONS

The introduction of anthrax as a contaminant of imported wool led not only to cases in the highly exposed groups of workers but also to cases in other members of the population and in farm animals. The measures taken during the study period reduced fatalities from cutaneous anthrax but did not eliminate the disease. Public concern about the cases was muted.

[The explicative power of the rules: the case of the Koch's postulates]

This article traces the emergence of the standard for evidence of causation in infectious diseases, from the scientific discoveries on contagion by Agostino Bassi, in the first half of the nineteenth century. However, only after the work of Robert Koch on anthrax and tuberculosis, a set of practical guidelines (Koch's postulates) were acknowledged, to establish rigorous criteria before a microbiologist could claim a strictly causal relationship between microbes and infectious diseases. The methodological and epistemological meaning of these guidelines, and their limits, are discussed in the light of the recent development of microbiology and medicine.

Anthrax and the etiology of the English sweating sickness

In 2001, spores of Bacillus anthracis were deliberately sent through the United States postal system, resulting in five deaths from inhalational anthrax. Rarely observed clinical symptoms associated with these cases led to a hypothesis about the etiology of the English Sweating Sickness. The disease appeared sporadically in England between 1485 and 1551. Numerous viruses have been proposed as possible causes of the "English Sweat". Anthrax has not previously been considered because, documented cases of inhalational anthrax have been rare and pronounced sweating was not a noted symptom of the more common cutaneous and gastrointestinal forms of anthrax. Victims of the English Sweating Sickness have recently been identified in undisturbed tombs. It may be possible to examine those bodies and coffins for the presence of resilient anthrax spores and DNA using modern genomic tools.

[Anthrax and carbuncle: two sides of the same coin]

The disease caused by Bacillus anthracis is one of the most critical concerns to the general public and public health authorities due both to the anthrax cases caused by the intentional release of the germ in the USA at the close of 2001 when letters and packages were contaminated with anthrax spores, and the current threat of biological warfare. After a brief excursus on the history of the terms Anthrax and Carbuncle, we survey the main evidence of anthrax found in the ancient literature, and deal with the identification of the pathogenic agent responsible for the disease and the subsequent discovery of the first anthrax vaccine and its use in order to control the spread of the disease in the cattle. Finally, we examine some of the most important episodes of occupational exposure to the Bacillus anthracis that occurred in the past two centuries and the preventive measures applied both to employees and the workplace.

Characterizing a "new" disease: epizootic and epidemic anthrax, 1769-1780

In 1876, Robert Koch established anthrax as the first disease linked to a microbial agent. But Koch's efforts had followed more than 150 years of scientific progress in characterizing anthrax as a specific human and veterinary disease. Focusing on France and the period between 1769 and 1780, this brief review examines noteworthy early events in the characterization of anthrax. It suggests that some "new" diseases like anthrax might be "discovered" not only by luck, brilliance, or new technologies, but by clinical/epidemiological "puzzle-fitting," which can assemble a cohesive picture of a seemingly specific disease entity. If such processes have operated over 2 or more centuries, studying them may yield clues about desirable interactions between epidemiology/public health and experimental science in the characterization of new diseases.

The history of anthrax

Anthrax, a potentially fatal infection, is a virulent and highly contagious disease. Descriptions of this disease begin in antiquity, with the best ancient account being by the Roman poet Virgil. During the 19th century, anthrax was the infection involved in several important medical developments. It served as the prototype for Koch's postulates regarding the causation of infectious disease. The first vaccine containing attenuated live organisms was Louis Pasteur's veterinary anthrax vaccine. In the 1900s, human inhalation anthrax occurred sporadically in the United States among textile and tanning workers, but the incidence of the illness had declined dramatically. An outbreak of inhalation anthrax occurred in Sverdlovsk near a Soviet military microbiology facility in 1979. This epidemic represented the largest documented outbreak of human inhalation anthrax in history. In October and November 2001, 22 cases of confirmed or suspected inhalation and cutaneous anthrax were reported associated with the intentional release of the organism in the United States. An additional case of cutaneous disease occurred in March of 2002.

Figs--the earliest known ancient drug for cutaneous anthrax

BACKGROUND

Anthrax is an often fatal bacterial infection, occurring in cutaneous, inhalational, gastrointestinal, and meningeal forms. Evaluation of anthrax treatment from ancient history may help healthcare providers to handle this serious disease more efficiently.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the biblical descriptions of anthrax, focusing on its therapy in ancient times.

STUDY SELECTION

All biblical texts associated with anthrax were examined and passages relating to this disease were studied closely.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Biblical passages such as: "Take a cluster of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil [anthrax], and he recovered," and "Let them take a cluster of figs, and lay it upon the boil [anthrax], and he shall recover," convincingly indicate that figs have healing properties in cutaneous anthrax lesions.

CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of this study, the National Institutes of Health together with the pharmaceutical industry may consider to work on isolation of compounds from fig plants to develop products against cutaneous and possibly other forms of anthrax once screening tests are completed.

[First research work by Robert Koch on etiology of anthrax-in cooperation with Józef Knechtel, Polish apothecary]

Terroristic attack on United States of America 11 September 2001 and just after many cases of anthrax spores employment as biological warfare called our attention to Robert Koch. He determined anthrax etiology and enclosed it in his first research work: Die Aetiologie der Milzbrand-Kranheit begrundet auf die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Bacillus Anthracis. The results of this research are widely described. In the scientific researches participated J. Knechtel, Pole, pharmacist, pharmacy owner in Wolsztyn. His adjacent laboratory near pharmacy was provided with microscope, camera, table and two chairs. Many slides and above mentioned article / without J. Knechtel as joint author/were the results of this findings. About cooperation Pole with R. Koch we found out from two letters doctor Brinkmann' s authorship and three reports explored by A. Skrobacki in Central Register Office in Merseburg. The objects mentioned above were delivered by J. Knechtel's widow as the gift to Institute of Infectious Diseases in Berlin in 1905. Robert Koch' s cooperation with a Polish pharmacist was concealed. It was caused by a historic background and the policy of Prussia - an invader state in relation to Polish people. The official demonstration of cooperation with a Polish pharmacist under these circumstances could not take place.

Recollections of infectious disease research in Guadalajara, 1948-50

Images

[Sacer ignis, quam pustulam vocant pastores: anthrax--cultural historical traces of a zoonosis]

The knowledge of anthrax as a disease and its importance as a zoonosis in the Greco-Roman world is revealed through a selection of classical texts and mythological sources, taking into account evidence of reworking and reuse of these texts up until the nineteenth century. The numerous names given to the disease throughout history and their linguistic origins will also be examined in this paper. The narrative of the epizoonoses in Noricum in Virgil's Georgics; taken by several to represent a description of an anthrax epidemic, and which had a great influence in written works on veterinary medicine up until the discovery of bacteria, will be given particular attention. The crucial term is "Sacer Ignis", synonymous for several different human and animal diseases through time. This term will be analysed in terms of linguistic origin and the changes in meaning it acquired throughout the centuries.

Epidemic anthrax in the eighteenth century, the Americas

Anthrax has been described as a veterinary disease of minor importance to clinical medicine, causing occasional occupational infections in single cases or clusters. Its potential for rapid and widespread epidemic transmission under natural circumstances has not been widely appreciated. A little-known 1770 epidemic that killed 15,000 people in Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti) was probably intestinal anthrax. The epidemic spread rapidly throughout the colony in association with consumption of uncooked beef. Large-scale, highly fatal epidemics of anthrax may occur under unusual but natural circumstances. Historical information may not only provide important clues about epidemic development but may also raise awareness about bioterrorism potential.