Malignant anthrax in Russian Federation in 2023: two case reports

Abstract

Malignant anthrax is a serious health and agricultural problem in Russia. Even starting only from 1900, more than 70 thousand outbreaks of infection among people and animals can be counted in Russia. Adequate veterinary measures have now led to a sharp decrease in the level of morbidity in livestock as the main source of its causative agent. At the same time, the incidence of human illness has decreased, which is greatly facilitated by routine immunization of the population exposed to occupational risk of infection. However, despite the measures taken, epizootics and epidemic foci of anthrax are registered annually. As a result, anthrax diseases occur quite often among residents of these areas. The article discusses the features of the modern course of the cutaneous form of anthrax, which is analyzed during the treatment of patients from two foci of anthrax infection in the Voronezh region in August-October 20123. The uniqueness of this observation lies in the opportunity to present to readers the evolution of skin changes in the carbunculous variety of cutaneous anthrax from the early stages of development of the ulcerative process to almost complete recovery.