Anthrax infection cycle

Anthrax occurs worldwide. The organism exists in the soil as a spore. The question remains unsettled as to whether its persistence in the soil is due to significant multiplication of the organism in the soil, or if it is due solely to cycles of bacterial amplification in infected animals whose carcasses then contaminate the soil.7,8 The form of the organism in infected animals is the bacillus. Only when the organism in the carcass is exposed to air does sporulation occur. 

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