Kingdom - Bacteria Phylum - Firmicutes (low g+c gram positive bacteria) Class - Bacilli Order - Bacillales Family - Bacillaceae Genus - Bacillus Species - Anthracis
Bacillus anthracis is the first bacterium conclusively demonstrated to cause a disease which was discovered in 1876 by Robert Koch, a German microbiologist researched the etiology of Bacillus anthracis; the bacterium that causes anthrax. Koch discovered that the bacteria formed spores known as “resting spores,” which could survive for very long periods of time in soil and in many different environments. Koch decided to use anthrax bacteria in one of his most important historical experiments, in which he isolated and grew Bacillus anthracis in pure culture and injected animals with the bacteria.
Using what I have read, and learned, he described how the microbe he injected into the animals caused the disease. From these studies he was also able to determine the life cycle of the anthrax bacteria and was able to demonstrate what became known as, “Koch’s postulates”, which demonstrate a causal relationship between a specific microorganism and a disease.
Bacillus anthracis is an etiological agent of anthrax. This bacterium causes an acute disease. Bacillus anthracis, a gram positive, spore forming bacterial pathogen of both human and animals. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Anthrax is thought to have originated in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Many scholars think that in Moses’ time, during the 10 plagues of Egypt, anthrax may have caused what was known as the fifth plague, described as a sickness affecting horses, cattle, sheep, camels and oxen.”