Welder's anthrax

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 presenting as 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 biovar anthracis, that were able to produce the toxin by means of a plasmid.

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 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.^[2]