Anthrax diagnosed in Nottinghamshire worker

A case of anthrax has been identified in Nottinghamshire, UK.

Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service stresses it is cutaneous (skin) anthrax, found in a man who works with animal skins.

This occupation is a known risk group for acquiring the disease.

This is because animal hides and skins may occasionally be contaminated with anthrax spores.

The man has not been identified.

A PHLS spokesman said: "This seems to be a typical occupationally acquired case."

Cutaneous anthrax is not passed from person to person except through direct contact with secretions from the lesion of an infected person, and even this is unusual.

There were 14 cases of cutaneous anthrax confirmed in the UK between 1981 and 2000. Many of these were among those involved in the handling of dead animals (such as abattoir workers), or those whose work involved handling animal hides, bonemeal or wool, the spokesman added.

Anthrax is a naturally occurring bacterium that exists in the form of spores which allow it to survive in the environment, for example, in the soil. It is carried by wild and domestic animals and is common in various countries in Asia and Africa.

Cutaneous anthrax is caused when the spores get into a cut or graze in the skin and cause a lesion. If untreated the infection can spread to cause blood poisoning and can be fatal in 5% of cases. With antibiotic treatment recovery occurs.