Pulmonary anthrax patients typically received a multidrug regimen of either ciprofloxacin or doxycycline (doxycycline is not used in patients with meningitis as a result of poor drug penetration to the central nervous system [CNS]) for 60 days and another antibiotic such as rifampin, vancomycin, or an aminoglycoside.
Radiologic features of
pulmonary anthrax include pleural effusions, mediastinal widening, paratracheal or hilar fullness, and parenchymal infiltrates.
A New York hospital worker died last night from
pulmonary anthrax, the fourth fatality in the United States this month from the germ warfare bacteria and the first not linked to postal workers or the media.
Pulmonary anthrax causes severe breathing difficulty, but its initial symptoms may resemble a common cold.
Pulmonary anthrax affects the lungs and death is certain.
Robert Stevens, 63, of Lantana, Florida, died at 9pm BST (4pm local time) at the JFK Medical Centre in Palm Beach after being confirmed as having contracted
pulmonary anthrax, the rarest form of the infection.
It is the first case of
pulmonary anthrax in America since 1975.
Pulmonary anthrax is much less common and creates flu-like symptoms.
Of the 32 people known to have been exposed to the bug, three have died from
pulmonary anthrax.
And in New Jersey, a female postal worker was tonight suspected of having contracted
pulmonary anthrax.
Meanwhile, in the US, two postal workers in Washington DC have died of
pulmonary anthrax.
Bob Stevens, a 63-year-old picture editor died last Friday of
pulmonary anthrax, a rare form of the disease contracted by breathing in the spores.