Anthrax animal models

Limited data regarding the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal B. anthracis infection in any animal model system are available. Barnes (1947) observed that 1 h after inhalational exposure to anthrax spores, the majority of spores were formd in the stomach. Therefore, regardless of the route of exposure, there is a high risk of spores... 

The choice of an appropriate animal model system that most closely mimics the human response to B. anthracis infection is crucial to the development of improved treatments and more effective vaccines. Such development relies on testing in appropriate animal models in which disease, infection, and progression mimic that seen in humans. The importance of selecting an appropriate animal model for hmnan anthrax is magnified by the potential of a genetically engineered B. anthracis bacterium made more virulent than its predecessor. The addition of antibiotic resistance genes would... 

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