RESUMO
The familiarity with the ancient disease anthrax from the second millennium B.C. through the second millennium A.D. is reviewed, providing the backdrop to the modern understanding of this disease as covered in the remainder of the volume. By means of an overview of the aetiology, ecology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, pathology and bacteriology of the naturally acquired disease, this opening chapter also lays down the groundwork for the subsequent state-of-the-art chapters.
Assuntos
Antraz , Bacillus anthracis , África Subsaariana/epidemiologia , Animais , Antraz/diagnóstico , Antraz/epidemiologia , Antraz/transmissão , Antraz/veterinária , Ásia Central/epidemiologia , Sudeste Asiático/epidemiologia , China/epidemiologia , Transmissão de Doença Infecciosa , Ecologia , Doenças Endêmicas/veterinária , Haiti/epidemiologia , Humanos , Insetos Vetores , Doenças Profissionais/diagnóstico , Doenças Profissionais/microbiologia , ZoonosesRESUMO
Escherichia coli O 27 H 7 was found in 16 stool samples submitted during a Caribbean cruise (Cruise Z) by 29 patients reporting with diarrhoea. A retrospective search revealed E. coli O 27 H 7 in 11 of 20 and 2 of 14 stool cultures from patients on two previous cruises (Y and X respectively) and in a culture from fresh cream (Cruise Y). The repeated occurrence of E. coli O 27 H 7 in the absence of any other apparent cause suggested that this serotype may have been responsible for the diarrhoea. The results of pathogenicity tests suggested that this strain elaborated heat-stable (ST) enterotoxin. The possibility that food may have been the vector is discussed.