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Cutaneous Anthrax
Cutaneous Anthrax
A 17 year old girl presented to the emergency department wit ha black necrotic lesion on her left cheek and periorbital
edema. She had been well until 15 days before presentation, when she noticed a small, painless, papule on her face that
quickly enlarged and developed a central vesicle. The vesicle burst leaving a painless ulcer with a black depressed
center. This was followed by swelling of the eyelids that progressed and became worse over the next 7 days. On
examination the patient had a mild temperature with no swelling of the lymph nodes.
A diagnosis of cutaneous anthrax was made and confirmed by Gram's staining of the ulcer-a laboratory method of examining
the causative microorganisms typically taken from the site of infection. The Gram's staining results were indicative
of a gram-positive spore forming bacilli that were identified as Bacillus Anthracis.
The treatment for the patient consisted of intravenous penicillin G and on follow up the patient was well and the ulcer
had healed with very little skin atrophy.
CUTANEOUS ANTHRAX: Mohsen Esfanbod, M.D, Mahdi Malekpour, M.D. N Engl J Med 2009; 361:178
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