MicrobeWorld

Up until now, scientists believed that the environmentally-resistant spores of Bacillus anthracis survived in a dormant state until it was ingested by a ruminating mammal like a cow and allowed to germinate.

Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine are now saying that the bacteria has found the ability to invade a common soil/water amoeba, Acanthamoeba castellanii and multiply, according to a University of Virginia news release Oct. 17.

Researchers describe the amoeba as a single-celled “anthrax incubator”. The study is published in the journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.