IF AN anthrax attack isn’t detected quickly, it may be too
late to help the victims. But ways of blocking the bacterium’s deadly toxin
could one day buy precious time for antibiotics to take effect.
Anthrax toxin is made up of three components called protective antigen (PA),
lethal factor and oedema factor. Individually they are harmless. But after
protective antigen has bound to a receptor on the surface of cells, it combines
with lethal factor and oedema factor. The complete toxin can enter cells, and
when it gets inside immune cells called macrophages, it chews up key enzymes and
kills…
