Pathology and pathogenesis of inhalational anthrax reviewed.

2003 SEP 17 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The pathology and pathogenesis of bioterrorism-related inhalational anthrax has been reviewed in a recent issue of the American Journal of Pathology.

"During October and November 2001, public health authorities investigated 11 patients with inhalational anthrax related to a bioterrorism attack in the United States. Formalin-fixed samples from 8 patients were available for pathological and immunohistochemical (IHC) study using monoclonal antibodies against the Bacillus anthracis cell wall and capsule," scientists in the United States report.

"Prominent serosanguinous pleural effusions and hemorrhagic mediastinitis were found in five patients who died," said Jeannette Guarner at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and fellow members of the Inhalational Anthrax Pathology Working Group. "Pulmonary infiltrates seen on chest radiographs corresponded to intra-alveolar edema and hyaline membranes. IHC assays demonstrated abundant intra- and extracellular bacilli, bacillary fragments, and granular antigen-staining in mediastinal lymph nodes, surrounding soft tissues, and pleura. IHC staining in lung, liver, spleen, and intestine was present primarily inside blood vessels and sinusoids. Gram's staining of tissues was not consistently positive."

The investigators reported, "In three surviving patients, IHC of pleural samples demonstrated abundant granular ...