Anthrax Cases Associated with Animal-Hair Shaving Brushes

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Szablewski, Christine M. ; Hendricks, Kate ; Bower, William A. ; Shadomy, Sean V. ; Hupert, Nathaniel
• Description:
  During the First World War, anthrax cases in the United States and England increased greatly and seemed to be associated with use of new shaving brushes. Further investigation revealed that the source material and origin of shaving brushes had changed during the war. Cheap brushes of imported horsehair were being made to look like the preferred badger-hair brushes. Unfortunately, some of these brushes were not effectively disinfected and brought with them a nasty stowaway: Bacillus anthracis. A review of outbreak summaries, surveillance data, and case reports indicated that these cases originated from the use of ineffectively disinfected animal-hair shaving brushes. This historical information is relevant to current public health practice because renewed interest in vintage and animal-hair shaving brushes has been seen in popular culture. This information should help healthcare providers and public health officials answer questions on this topic.
• Subjects:
  Animals Anthrax/Epidemiology Anthrax/History Anthrax/Transmission Bacillus Anthracis Disease Outbreaks Hair Historical Review History, 19Th Century History, 20Th Century History, 21St Century Humans

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• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 23(5):806-808.
• Pubmed ID:
  28418302
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5403022
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  5
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:40198680f434cece7b2078419f0d355215a715e67ae91364031daefda1741f9b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/45623/cdc_45623_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 559.77 KB ]