GC: n
S: http://www.cdc.gov/anthrax/ (last access: 13 September 2015); DORLAND p. 99; EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/science/anthrax-disease (last access: 13 September 2015).
N: 1. late 14c., “any severe boil or carbuncle,” from Latin, from Greek anthrax “charcoal, live coal,” also “carbuncle,” of unknown origin. Specific sense of the malignant disease in sheep and cattle (and occasionally humans) is from 1876.
2. Anthrax, also called malignant pustule or woolsorters’ disease, acute, infectious, febrile disease of animals and humans caused by Bacillus anthracis, a bacterium that under certain conditions forms highly resistant spores capable of persisting and retaining their virulence for many years. Although anthrax most commonly affects grazing animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and mules, humans can develop the disease by eating the meat or handling the wool, hair, hides, bones, or carcasses of affected animals. When anthrax—its name derived from the Greek word for coal—attacks a person’s skin, a sore with a coal-black centre develops. Anthrax spores can also be produced inexpensively and converted into either a powder or a liquid, allowing anthrax to be used in a variety of weapons systems.
3. Anthrax is a disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a microbe that lives in soil. Many people know about it from the 2001 bioterror attacks. In the attacks, someone purposely spread anthrax through the U.S. mail. This killed five people and made 22 sick.
4. It is transmitted to humans usually by contact with infected animals or their discharges (agricultural anthrax) or with contaminated animal products (industrial anthrax). Anthrax is classified by primary routes of inoculation as: cutaneous, gastrointestinal and inhalational.
5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the novel Arrowsmith (1925) by Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951).
In the novel Doctor Zhivago (1957) by Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), we can mention this quote:
What astonished Yurii Andreievich was the change in Pamphil’s wife. He could scarcely recognize her. In the last few days she had aged terribly. Her goggling eyes were almost ready to pop out of their sockets and her neck was as thin and long as a cart shaft. Such was the effect upon her of her secret fears.
“She doesn’t give any milk, my dear,” she was saying. “I thought she might be in calf, but then she would have had milk by now and she still hasn’t any.”
“Why should she be in calf? You can see the scab of anthrax on her udder. I’ll give you some herb ointment to rub it with. And of course I’ll cast a spell on her.”
“My other trouble is my husband.”
S: 1. OED – http://goo.gl/y1p9x1 (last access: 2 September 2014). 2. EncBrit – http://goo.gl/GcRgrv (last access: 29 March 2015). 3. MEDLP – http://goo.gl/OAvn4 (last access: 11 November 2013). 4. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 29 March 2015). 5. http://pauladaunt.com/books/PASTERNAK,%20Boris%20-%20Doctor%20Zhivago.txt (last access: 29 March 2015); http://www.verbalworkout.com/ul/ul6808.htm (last access: 29 March 2015); https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/l/lewis/sinclair/arrowsmith/chapter4.html (last access: 29 March 2015).
SYN: malignant pustule, woolsorters’ disease.
S: EncBrit – http://goo.gl/GcRgrv (last access: 13 September 2015)
CR: anthracosis, bioterrorism, carbuncle.
