Image of Bacillus anthracis

Description:

This image depicted numbers of Bacillus anthracis bacterial colonies, which had been allowed to grow on sheep’s blood agar (SBA) for a 24 hour period. Note the classical appearance exhibited in the colonial morphology including a ground-glass, non-pigmented texture with accompanying comma projections from some of the individual rough-edged colonies. See PHIL 11748 for a higher magnification of these colonies.

What is anthrax?

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and domestic mammalian species (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, antelopes, and other herbivores), but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals or to tissue from infected animals or when anthrax spores are used as a bioterrorist weapon.
Created: 2009