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Bacillus anthracis is the pathogen that causes anthrax Originally known as an important animal pathogen, it was the first bacterium to be used for the preparation of a vaccine based on attenuated bacteria by Louis Pasteur in 1881.
Anthrax is a well-known, ancient disease; the fifth plague visited upon the Egyptians in Genesis (see plagues of Egypt) resembles the disease. Pure cultures of the anthrax bacillus were obtained in 1876 by Robert Koch, who demonstrated the relationship of the microbe to the disease.Confirmation of the bacillus as the cause of anthrax was provided by Louis Pasteur, who also developed a method of vaccinating sheep and cattle against the disease.astrointestinal anthrax is more likely to be fatal. Nausea, vomiting, and fever can be followed by abdominal bleeding, tissue death, and septicemia. Pulmonary, or inhalation, anthrax begins with flulike symptoms and ultimately causes lesions in the lungs and brain.