Stanley Dunaway, age 10, of Shreveport, Louisiana, for his question:

How do mammals get anthrax?

This dreadful disease is caused by a germ called Bacillus anthracis. It has been killing cattle and people for countless ages. Some experts say that anthrax was the Fifth Plague of Egypt, which happened in Bible days. The germs live in contaminated cattle food and the animals who eat it can become infected. People, and other animals, may catch the disease by touching an infected animal, its stall or bedding, or even by breathing the air around it.

The anthrax bacterium was the first disease germ to be recognized. This was in 1876. Later, the great Louis Pasteur developed a serum to vaccinate cattle against the disease. Nowadays, anti anthrax injections and strict health regulations keep the dreadful disease more or less under control.