Although it is rare in the United States, people can get sick with anthrax if they come in contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products. Anthrax can cause severe illness in both humans and animals. Anthrax is not contagious, which means you can't catch it from another person like the cold or flu.

Does anthrax spread easily?

Inhalation (lung) anthrax is not spread from person to person. Even if you develop symptoms of inhalation anthrax, you are not contagious to other persons. If you develop cutaneous (skin) anthrax, the drainage from an open sore presents a low risk of infection to others.

Can anthrax pass from person to person?

Anthrax is NOT contagious.

You cannot catch anthrax from another person the way you might catch a cold or the flu. In rare cases, person-to-person transmission has been reported with cutaneous anthrax, where discharges from skin lesions might be infectious.