Some Peculiarities of Anthrax Epidemiology in Herbivorous and Carnivorous Animals

Abstract

Anthrax is an especially dangerous zooanthroponosis caused by the Gram-positive sporeforming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. A notable feature of this disease is the difference in susceptibility to it among different groups of animals. Anthrax primarily affects herbivorous ungulate mammals; they are easily infected, and their disease often leads to rapid, even sudden, death. However, predators and scavengers are extremely resistant to anthrax, and if they become infected, they usually become mildly ill. As the result of the increased sensitivity of ungulates to anthrax and the possibility of disease transmission from them to humans, most studies of anthrax have focused on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of infection in farm animals and humans. The issues of anthrax in other animals, such as predators, and the peculiarities of anthrax epidemiology in wild ungulates have not been sufficiently detailed in the literature. In this article, we provide a review of literature sources that describe the differential susceptibility to infection of various groups of animals to anthrax and some epidemiological features of anthrax in animals that are not the main hosts of B. anthracis.