Impaired neutrophil function in the cutaneous form of anthrax.

Spontaneous and Bacillus anthracis induced luminol-dependent chemiluminescence of neutrophils was studied in six patients with the cutaneous form of anthrax. Spontaneous chemiluminescence in anthrax was decreased compared to the healthy controls (p < 0.05). B. anthracis, opsonized by complement-containing sera from patients, induced chemiluminescence in neutrophils from control donors but not from patients. B. anthracis, opsonized by complement-free sera from the patients, did not cause an increase in chemiluminescence response in either the patient or the control neutrophils. Also, B. anthracis, opsonized with normal sera and nonopsonized, did not induce chemiluminescence in either patient or control neutrophils. It was concluded that oxidative metabolism by neutrophils is impaired in anthrax, whereas the functional capacity of antibodies seems to be unaffected.