TY - JOUR AU - Szablewski, Christine AU - Hendricks, Kate AU - Bower, William AU - Shadomy, Sean AU - Hupert, Nathaniel T1 - Anthrax Cases Associated with Animal-Hair Shaving Brushes T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2017 VL - 23 IS - 5 SP - 806 SN - 1080-6059 AB - During the First World War, anthrax cases in the United States and England increased greatly and seemed to be associated with use of new shaving brushes. Further investigation revealed that the source material and origin of shaving brushes had changed during the war. Cheap brushes of imported horsehair were being made to look like the preferred badger-hair brushes. Unfortunately, some of these brushes were not effectively disinfected and brought with them a nasty stowaway: Bacillus anthracis. A review of outbreak summaries, surveillance data, and case reports indicated that these cases originated from the use of ineffectively disinfected animal-hair shaving brushes. This historical information is relevant to current public health practice because renewed interest in vintage and animal-hair shaving brushes has been seen in popular culture. This information should help healthcare providers and public health officials answer questions on this topic. KW - Anthrax KW - Bacillus anthracis KW - fomites KW - warfare KW - disinfection KW - zoonoses KW - animal hair KW - shaving brushes KW - bacteria KW - United States KW - United Kingdom KW - Trinidad DO - 10.3201/eid2305.161554 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/5/16-1554_article ER - End of Reference