Anthrax case confirmed

The man who has anthrax works with animal skins

A case of anthrax has been identified in Nottinghamshire, the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) has confirmed.

The cutaneous or skin anthrax has been found in a man who works with animal skins.

The case does not pose a risk to the public, the PHLS stressed.

People who work with animal skins are at risk of acquiring the disease because animal hides and skins may occasionally be contaminated with anthrax spores.

The man has not been identified.

Abattoir work

A laboratory spokesman said: "This seems to be a typical occupationally-acquired case."

Cutaneous anthrax is not passed from person to person except through direct contact with secretions from the lesion of an infected person - and even this is unusual.

There have been 14 cases of cutaneous anthrax confirmed in the UK between 1981 and 2000.

Many of those affected were involved in the handling of dead animals, such as abattoir workers, or those whose work involved handling animal hides, bonemeal or wool, the spokesman added.

Anthrax is carried by wild and domestic animals and is common in various countries in Asia and Africa.

Cutaneous anthrax is caused when the spores get into a cut or graze in the skin and cause a lesion.

If untreated the infection can spread to cause blood poisoning and can be fatal in 5% of cases, but with antibiotic treatment recovery usually occurs.