Welder's anthrax is a disease that closely resembles anthrax and is seemingly associated with welders and other metal workers. The term was first coined in 2022 in a paper that noted a cluster of cases of severe pneumonia among welders attributed to anthrax toxin. [1] Though illness attributed to anthrax toxin is typically associated with infection by anthrax bacteria, Bacillus anthracis , these workers appeared to be infected with different disease causing bacteria, Bacillus cereus, that was able to produce the toxin by means of a plasmid.
Cases of anthrax in the United States are extremely rare, with only one or two cases reported in a typical year. Many cases are attributed to handling of animal products from infected animals. [2] The US Centers for Disease Control has recognized that metalworkers, especially welders, are at risk of catching welder's anthrax. The cause of the elevated risk is not well understood, but researchers have speculated that metal fumes, and specifically iron oxide, inhaled by metal workers may create susceptibility to the disease. [3]