In about 10 to 20 percent of all cases of Anthrax of the skin though, further organs become involved.
If the disease develops after inhaling spores, it begins with fever and discomfort, muscle-pains, coughing and a feeling of pressure. Even though this can ameliorate without treatment, the second phase may possibly lead to severe complications. In cases of gastro-intestinal Anthrax there are symptoms of fever, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pains, which can worsen severely.
Course of disease and complications:
All three kinds of Anthrax can lead to septic states with fever, shivering, haemorrhage of the skin, enlargement of the spleen and circulatory shock. The sepsis brings on death very quickly. Anthrax of the skin is usually treated with antibiotics. Depending on the author, the number of fatalities without treatment lies between five and 20% of all patients. Pulmonary and intestinal Anthrax are fatal within one to three days if not treated or if treated too late.
In the recent years deaths have been rare. The last reported death in Germany occurred in 1998. 332 persons became ill in 1912, about 50 of them died. Almost all cases were of Anthrax of the skin with following sepsis.
Two epidemics are known of worldwide. After Anthrax leaked from a military plant for biological weapons in Sverdlovsk, about 1400 km east of Moscow, 66 people died. The Soviet side tried to hush up the accident. The United States assumes there were thousands of victims.
In the late seventies, around 9700 people developed Anthrax during the war in Zimbabwe.