Sergej Mihajlovich Belousov. Serdce drakona, ili Puteshestvie s Pechenyushkinym----- © Copyright Sergej Belousov Email: lizaveta42(a)hotmail.com Date: 16 Apr 2004.

Read and translate the text. Anthrax Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis and is highly lethal in some forms. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and domestic ruminants, but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals, tissue from infected animals, or high density of anthrax spores. Anthrax cannot spread from human to human. Anthrax infection is extremely rare in common domestic pets (dogs and cats).

Anthrax is rare in humans although it occasionally occurs in ruminants such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and antelopes. Bacillus anthracis bacteria are soil-borne. Anthrax can enter the human body through the intestines, lungs, or skin (cutaneous) and causes distinct clinical syndromes based on its site of entry.

An infected human will generally be quarantined. However, anthrax does not usually spread from an infected human to a noninfected human. Anthrax is usually contracted by handling infected animals or their wool, germ warfare/terrorism or laboratory accidents. Pulmonary (respiratory or inhalation) anthrax. Respiratory infection initially present with cold or flu-like symptoms for several days, followed by severe (and often fatal) respiratorycollapse.

If not treated soon after exposure, before symptoms appear, inhalation anthrax is highlyfatal, with near 100% mortality. Gastrointestinal (gastroenteric) anthrax. Gastrointestinal infection is most often caused by the ingestion of infected meat and often presents with serious gastrointestinal difficulty, vomiting of blood, severe diarrhea, acute inflammation of the intestinal tract, and loss of appetite.

Intestinal infections result in fatality 25 to 60% of the time. Cutaneous (skin) anthrax.

Cutaneous infection is mainfested by progressive stages from an erythematous papule to ulceration and finally to formation of black scar (i.e., eschar). The black eschar often presents with a large, painless necrotic ulcers (beginning as an irritating and itchy skin lesion or blister that is dark and usually concentrated as a black dot, somewhat resembling bread mold) at the site of infection. Cutaneous infection is the least fatal but without treatment, approximately 20% of all skin infection cases may progress to toxemia and death. Treated cutaneous anthrax is rarely fatal. Treatment for anthrax infection and other bacterial infections includes large doses of intravenous and oral antibiotics, such as, penicillin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, erythromycin, and vancomycin.

Anthrax spores can survive for long periods of time in the environment after release. Methods for cleaning anthrax contaminated sites commonly use oxidizing agent such as peroxides. These agents slowly destroy bacterial spores. Read and translate the text. Diseases of the sheep Sheep may fall victim to poisons, infectious diseases, and physical injuries. There are some obvious signs of ill health, with sick sheep eating little, vocalizing excessively, and being generally listless. In the XX th and XXI st centuries, a minority of sheep owners have turned to alternative treatments such as homeopathy, herbalism and even traditional Chinese medicine to treat sheep veterinary problems.