Anthrax Research Paper

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Anthrax is a highly infectious disease caused by the bacterium, Bacillus anthracis. It normally affects herbivores and unfortunately may also spread to humans through skin contact, ingestion of contaminated products or inhalation of the bacterium (Davis n/a, MedicineNet; Mayo Clinic; Levi et al 2003.). Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis) is a gram positive, rod shaped spore forming bacterium (Shihui et al, N/A) that invades the human body and leads to various symptoms of Anthrax, depending on how the person got the infection. These symptoms include; swollen neck glands, bloody diarrhoea, vomiting blood, extreme tiredness, nausea, painful swallowing, abdominal pain, trouble breathing, high fever and blisters on the skin that eventually turn black…show more content…
anthracis. This essay will mainly focus on pulmonary Anthrax and the appropriate samples used if this type of anthrax is suspected and discuss in depth two methods that are used to confirm the presence of this bacterium. These tests are; the culturing of the bacterium on a Polymyxin, lysosome, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, thallium acetate (PLET) medium (microbiological method) and the Real-time PCR test (molecular method) and further on will discuss on why the molecular test is more reliable that the microbiological…show more content…
The suspension is then heated at approximately 95®C for 15-20 minutes. It is then cooled at 4®C and centrifuged, a pellet will form, but the supernatant will be used for the PCR procedure because it contains the DNA. (http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Health_standards/tahm/2.01.01_ANTHRAX.pdf). Most reference laboratories use already commercially prepared, that consist of B. anthracis specific primers and probe mixtures that target the genes that code for the virulent toxin. During the PCR reaction, the forward and reverse primers anneal to the complementary sequence on the DNA and a probe that is labelled with a 5’ dye and a 3’ quencher, anneals to the target gene of the bacterium’s DNA. During PCR amplification. The probe is then cleaved and the 5’ dye is then separated from the 3’ quencher, allowing the dye to emit fluorescence. Emission of fluorescence at elongation indicate the presence of the target

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