Professional paper
Antrax as an occupational disease with a special view to the conditions in Yugoslavia
Josip Fališevac
; Bolnica za zarazne bolesti Zagreb
Helena Hellenbach
Abstract
Anthrax is one of the most important and the most widespread et zoonoses. It is above all an occupational disease and the type and location of the lesion depends on the nature of work where the infection occurs. In the first part of the article the importance of anthrax in the history of medicine generally is briefly outlined and its significance in the history of· occupational diseases is pointed out, especially its significance as one of the most important and best known occupational infections. After short notes on the etiology the epidemiology of anthrax in animals and the mode of infection in men in agricultural and industrial countries is more fully discussed. The characteristics of the agricultural and industrial type of occupational infection with anthrax are set forth. Non-occupational infections are mentioned as well. Thereafter follows a short description of the pathogenesis, of clinical features and of the treatment. Anthrax in Yugoslavia is discussed in the second part of the article. It is a frequent disease in animals in this country and according to the number of human cases it is our most important zoonosis. - The incidence of human anthrax in this country from 1925-1950 is shown in Chart 1. The number of cases has rapidly increased after the Second World War (to 2038 notified case, in 1946). The causes of this high incidence are conditions related to physical geography, the economic structure of the country and the low standard of civilisation. From Chart 3 it results that per 100 diseased animals about 40-50 people are infected, which proves an inappropriate treatment of sick animals and their carcasses. The incidence of anthrax in the People's Republic of Croatia is shown in Chart 4. In -the P. R. of Croatia anthrax is especially wide-spread in 8 districts of Northern Dalmatia and there were after the last war more cases of anthrax there than in all other parts of Croatia put together (Chart 6). The characteristics of anthrax in Yugoslavia are partly illustrated by the analysis of 114 cases of anthrax treated from 1936-1950 at the Zagreb Fever Hospital (Chart 7). The mode of infection in these cases is shown in Table 3. In 74 of these patients the infection was contracted by dealing with sick or perished animals. Farmers and butchers are most frequently infected with anthrax (Table 4). Anthrax in Yugoslavia reveals other characteristics of agricultural anthrax as well. In the majority of patients (84 cases) there was a malignant pustule located on the upper limbs and in considerably lower number of cases on other parts of the body (Chart 9 & 10). In this country anthrax in men occurs most frequently at the same time as in domestic animals i. e. in summer and the beginning of autumn (Chart Il). Industrial infection is in this country relatively rare, because we have so far no branch of industry in which anthrax usually occurs, sufficiently developed. The majority of our cases from this group were tanners. As a special type of occupational infection we mention three cases, who contracted the disease in connection with the production of anthrax serum and vaccine. The age of our patients was mostly between 20 and 50 and according to sexes there were 98 males and 16 females, one evidence more for the occupational character of anthrax. However also the non-occupational infection is not rare in Yugoslavia.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
188075
URI
Publication date:
20.12.1951.
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