A number of attenuated, partially attenuated, and fully virulent strains of B.
anthracis have been utilized over the years for vaccine development and animal challenge
studies which are fully described. A description of early veterinary vaccine development
followed by the development of human vaccines and their relative safety and incidence of
adverse reactions are presented in considerable detail. Studies on the elucidation of the
major factors of virulence, the lethal and edema toxins and capsule formation and their
encoding by plasmids constitutes a major advance in the understanding of the genetic
factors influencing anthrax and the critical antigens involved in the development of
vaccines. The development of a variety of different potential vaccines are discussed
including attenuated whole cell vaccines, unattenuated dead cell vaccines, purified protein
based vaccines, recombinant protein based vaccines, vaccines utilizing bacterial vectors,
viral vectors, and eukaryotic vectors and the efficacy of various adjuvants are presented in
detail. A notably comprehensive presentation of macrophage studies associated with
various animal models of anthrax is used to facilitate a clarified presentation of the
biochemical factors involved in anthrax infections and their influence on the innate
immune system. Detection of B. anthracis in environmental samples is invariably based on
detection of spores. A variety of immunological methods are described for the rapid
detection of B. anthracis spores in environmental samples.
Keywords: Major strains of B. anthracis; plasmid pXO1 plasmid pXO2; capsule;
innate immune response; immunological detection; adjuvants; eucaryotic vaccine
vectors; viral vaccine vectors; bacterial vaccine vectors, passive immunization;
cytokines; chemokines; oxidative burst; complement; mice; rats; rabbits, guinea pigs;
monkeys.