Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of Bacillus anthracis vegetative stage, photocomposite of bacteria on human skin. Bacillus anthracis is a


Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of Bacillus anthracis vegetative stage, photocomposite of bacteria on human skin. Bacillus anthracis is a Gram-positive, encapsulated, spore-forming, zoonotic, rod prokaryote. It most commonly occurs in wild and domestic lower vertebrates (cattle, sheep, goats, and other herbivores), but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals or tissue. In humans it causes the acute infectious disease, anthrax which can lead to septicaemia and death if left untreated. Bacillus anthracis spores can live in the soil for many years. Human anthrax has three major clinical forms: cutaneous, inhalation, and gastrointestinal. Cutaneous anthrax is a result of introduction of the spore through the skin; inhalation anthrax through the respiratory tract; and gastrointestinal anthrax by ingestion. Magnification: x500 bacteria; x500 skin when shortest axis printed at 25 millimetres.


Size: 2646px × 3302px
Photo credit: © DENNIS KUNKEL MICROSCOPY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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