Anthrax septicemia

Indications Anthrax, cellulitis, endocarditis, infections, otitis media, rheumatic fever, respiratory infections, septicemia Category Antibiotic, penicillin Half-life 4 hours... 

Some of the more important infections, pathogenic to man, sometimes found in meat but usually detected by inspection, are tuberculosis, anthrax, trichinosis, actinomycosis, botrymycosis, pseudo-tuberculosis, rabies, septicemia, foot and mouth disease, pyemia, etc. 

Intravenous ciprofloxacin or doxycycline is recommended for treatment of anthrax, usually as part of a cocktail of antibiotics (CDC, 2001a,b). Multiple antibiotics are usually indicated in anthrax cases with signs of septicemia, extensive edema, or for cases with cutaneous lesions in the head and neck (Brook, 2002). Penicillin may be included in the antibiotic cocktail but is not recommended as a stand-alone therapy due to B. anthracis p-lactamase production. B. anthracis can express p-lactamase variants, penicillinases and cepha-losporinases, which would undermine a lone-penicillin therapy (Lightfoot et al., 1990). B. anthracis has shown in vitro resistance to cephaloporins and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Inglesby et al., 2002). Corticosteroid therapy may help treat edema from head and neck lesions or prevent airway obstruction. Table 29.3 contains... 

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