Malignant anthrax in Russian Federation in 2023: two case reports

Abstract

Malignant anthrax is a serious health and agricultural problem in Russia. Since 1900, 70,000 outbreaks of infection among people and animals have been reported in Russia. Adequate veterinary measures have led to a decrease in the level of morbidity in livestock, which is the main causative agent. Moreover, the incidence of human illness has decreased, which is greatly facilitated by routine immunization of the population exposed to occupational risk of infection. However, despite the measures taken, epizootics and epidemic foci of anthrax are registered annually. As a result, anthrax occur often among residents of these areas.
 This study discusses the modern course of the cutaneous form of anthrax, which was analyzed during the treatment of patients from two foci of anthrax infection in the Voronezh region in August–October 2023. The novelty of this observation lies in the opportunity to present to readers the evolution of skin changes in the carbunculus variety of cutaneous anthrax from the early stages of ulcerative process development to almost complete recovery.