Animal Health Diagnostic Center -
Emerging Issues
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Guidelines for Diagnosis and Sample Collection of Anthrax Suspect Animals
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| Note: Bacillus anthracis
is NOT considered endemic in the State of New York. Questions about
environmental samples of suspicious origin should be directed to local law
enforcement or public health officials. The NYS Animal Health Diagnostic Center offers anthrax testing on animal samples from suspect cases.
Such cases are defined in detail in the USDA
Technical Fact Sheet and in the Feline
Health Center's Information. Relevant excerpts for case definition from
the USDA Fact Sheet are provided below. |
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 Diagnosis of Anthrax in Domestic and Other Ruminants (from USDA Fact Sheet) |
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 Sudden death in an animal without prior symptoms (esp.in ruminants), should
lead to a suspicion of anthrax. (Other causes of acute death being reported
in NYS Dairy herds include jejunal hemorrhage syndrome which is thought
to be caused by a clostridial infection and perhaps changes in feed). |
| If anthrax is suspected as the cause of death, the affected carcass
should not be opened because exposure of the vegetative anthrax bacteria
to air induces spore formation, contaminating the environment and presenting
a health risk to personnel and other nearby animals. |
| Diagnosis can be confirmed by aseptically collecting a postmortem blood
sample from a peripheral vein (e.g., the jugular vein or ear vein) and examining
a blood smear for the presence of the capsule using a suitable stain (e.g.,
M'Fadyean methylene blue stain) or by culturing the bacilli (see recommendations
below). |
| In the event an infected carcass is inadvertently opened, postmortem examination
of ruminants may show (1) a rapidly decomposing carcass; (2) bloody discharges
from the nose, mouth, or anus; (3) a lack of rigor mortis; (4) the presence
of dark, tarlike unclotted blood; (5) lesions consistent with generalized
septicemia; and (6) an enlarged spleen having a "blackberry jam" consistency. |
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| Diagnosis in Horses, Swine, Dogs and Cats (from USDA Fact Sheet) |
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| "(Horses), Swine, dogs, and cats usually show a subacute to chronic localized
form of disease. There is a characteristic swelling of the neck secondary
to regional lymph node involvement which causes dysphagia and dyspnea following
ingestion of the bacteria. An intestinal form of anthrax with severe enteritis
sometimes occurs in these species. Many carnivores apparently have a natural
resistance …" |
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| Recommended Personal Protection when handling suspect cases (from USDA Fact Sheet) |
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| "Veterinarians and other personnel should take precautions to avoid skin
contact with potentially contaminated carcasses and soil. Personal protective
equipment (PPE), such as impermeable gloves, boots, and clothing, should
be used. Disposable PPE should be used, but if not available, decontamination
of PPE should be completed. Although the risk of respiratory infection is
extremely small, veterinarians and other personnel conducting postmortems,
soil remediations, and disposal of animal carcasses should wear respirators
with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter." |
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Notes from the Animal Health Diagnostic Center
- if submitting samples to the Lab from suspect animal cases: |
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| Please call to alert the Lab first (607-253-3900). For reportable disease
in domestic animals, the State Veterinarian's office also needs to be contacted (518-457-3502) |
| For blood smear - submit a purple top tube of blood. |
| For culture, submit a red top blood tube, blood culture vial or a culture
swab. Nasal/pharyngeal swabs may also be suitable for culture from companion animals. |
| Submit all culture swabs in Amies transport media with or without charcoal. |
