ANTHRAX

[an.thrax] n [ME antrax carbuncle, fr. L anthrax, fr. Gk, coal, carbuncle] (1876): an infectious disease of warm-blooded animals (as cattle and sheep) caused by a spore-forming bacterium (Bacillus anthracis), transmissible to humans esp. by the handling of infected products (as wool), and characterized by external ulcerating nodules or by lesions in the lungs