Welder’s Anthrax

  A new journal article from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Bacterial Special Pathogens Branch describes cases of welder’s anthrax, a newly identified, deadly occupational disease. Welder’s anthrax is defined as pneumonia in a metalworker caused by bacteria within the B. cereus group that produces anthrax toxin. Seven patients diagnosed with what is now termed welder’s anthrax were reported to the CDC from 1994–2020. The job title of six patients was welder, and the job title of the seventh was metalworker. All were confirmed to