Images in clinical medicine. Cutaneous anthrax infection

A seven-month-old male infant was hospitalized with a two-day history of swelling of the left arm and a weeping lesion at the left elbow (Panel A). The patient was afebrile but had a 2-cm open sore, with surrounding erythema and induration, that oozed clear yellow fluid. There was nontender swelling and erythema of the entire arm. The white-cell count was 28,100 per cubic millimeter.