Inhalational anthrax spore germination

In cutaneous and gastrointestinal anthrax, spore germination takes place at or near the inoculation site following uptake by the macrophage or dendritic cell. It is the vegetative form, not the spore, which produces the deadly factors. After transformation to the vegetative bacilli, these bacteria are free to mediate toxicity at the inoculation site in skin and gastrointestinal tract (Beatty et al., 2003). In inhalational... 

In each case, spore ( 9 germination into mature B. anthracis bacilli takes place in the macrophages at the primary site of infection. In the case of inhalational anthrax, germination occurs later upon arrival at the local lymph node. 

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