An 18-year-old in Louisiana who was training to be a welder developed a stubborn cough that quickly worsened. He was soon hospitalized with pneumonia and needed a machine to help him breathe. Doctors later confirmed he had what specialists call “welder’s anthrax,” an extremely rare and dangerous lung infection. Only nine cases have ever been reported worldwide. The case forces a closer look at how an obscure work hazard nearly killed a teenager and why the risks for metalworkers may be higher than many welders, employers, and clinicians realize.
The ninth case and a near miss
The teenager’s illness started like many respiratory infections. He had a cough and felt unwell, but his condition deteriorated over a short period of time. Reports from health security researchers explain that he was working as a welding apprentice in Louisiana when his symptoms became severe enough that he was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and then transferred to intensive care, where he needed mechanical ventilation to support his breathing, according to a detailed investigation summary.
Clinicians at first treated him for routine community-acquired pneumonia. As his lungs failed and standard treatment did not work as expected, they began to suspect a more unusual cause. Laboratory testing finally showed that his infection fit the pattern of “welder’s anthrax,” a diagnosis so rare that his case became only the ninth known instance worldwide. That rarity can be misleading, tempting people to see the case as a medical curiosity instead of a warning about how welding fumes, poor respiratory protection, and specific bacteria can combine in deadly ways.
A teenager facing an adult worker’s disease
This patient was not a long-time refinery worker or an older pipefitter. He was an 18-year-old apprentice at the very start of his working life. Reports describe him as previously healthy before the cough that led to his hospitalization and respiratory failure. His lungs became so damaged that he needed a ventilator, a level of support that would be serious for any adult and is even more striking in someone who had just entered the workforce.
Age matters in this story. A scientific review of past patients found that welder’s anthrax usually affects older metalworkers, with a mean age of 42 years among reported cases. The authors of that review define welder’s anthrax as severe community-acquired pneumonia in welders or other metalworkers caused by a Bacillus cereus group bacterium that produces anthrax toxin, and they calculated that average age of 42 after examining all known cases in detail in their case review. An 18-year-old patient sits far below that range and shows that apprentices are not protected by their youth.
What exactly is “welder’s anthrax”?
Even among experts, there is still debate over how to define this condition. A federal clinical overview describes welder’s anthrax as a serious respiratory illness in welders and other metalworkers that is linked to anthrax infection. It notes that the illness presents as pneumonia and that an anthrax-like disease has been documented in people who work with metal. At the same time, the overview explains that the exact environmental source of the bacteria at worksites remains mostly unknown, which makes both prevention and diagnosis harder, according to current clinical guidance.
Other researchers argue for a narrower definition that focuses on the specific bacteria involved. The scientific review of cases describes welder’s anthrax as pneumonia in metalworkers caused by a Bacillus cereus group strain that can produce anthrax toxin. An occupational health summary echoes this view and calls the condition a form of severe pneumonia linked to these bacteria in welders and other metalworkers. That summary, which discusses a welding apprentice in Louisiana, also notes that the investigation received help from CDC and NIOSH, showing that federal agencies now treat these anthrax-like infections as a serious occupational concern.
The Louisiana case and Obiltoxaximab
The teenager’s illness did not only test his body. It also tested how prepared the health system was to handle such a rare disease. A formal case report by Thompson JM and colleagues, titled “Welder’s Anthrax Treated with Obiltoxaximab – Louisiana, 2024,” describes how clinicians decided to add an anthrax antitoxin called Obiltoxaximab to standard antibiotics and intensive care. The report explains that the team looked at the small but deadly history of similar cases and concluded that blocking anthrax toxin activity gave the patient a better chance of survival, as outlined in the official MMWR account.
An occupational safety report on the same Louisiana event presents it as an example of a rare but severe work-related hazard. That report emphasizes that the patient survived after aggressive treatment, including Obiltoxaximab, and argues that the case should push employers to strengthen respiratory protection for welders. It highlights the need for better training, consistent use of high-quality respirators, and close attention to ventilation systems, drawing these lessons from the 2024 Louisiana case in its occupational analysis.
A puzzling pattern among welders
The Louisiana teenager’s case is part of a small but worrying pattern. A detailed news report notes that a healthy 18-year-old welder in Louisiana nearly died of anthrax in September 2024 and that this was the ninth recognized case in a growing cluster among metalworkers. The same report explains that the term “welder’s anthrax” was first used in 2022 after several similar infections were identified in welders and that six of the previous eight patients died, a level of mortality that would be considered extreme for a modern work-related disease, according to this pattern report.
Occupational hygiene experts describe a similar picture. They point out that all known patients were welders or other metalworkers who developed sudden, overwhelming pneumonia. Many worked in the U.S. South and had a history of exposure to welding fumes or cutting metals in enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces. The scientific review notes that several patients had iron overload in their lungs, which may help the bacteria grow. This emerging pattern suggests that certain welding environments, especially those with heavy fume exposure and limited respiratory protection, may create ideal conditions for these toxin-producing bacteria to cause severe disease.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
