Bacillus anthracis is a Gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium, the causative agent of zoonosis anthrax, and is one of the species that, under unfavorable conditions, can produce spores, infectious form of the disease. Genetic research has confirmed that the species appeared in sub-Saharan Africa, and it has been known to people since ancient times. The genome of the anthrax bacillus is tripartite and consists of a nucleoid and two virulent plasmids - pXO1 and pXO2. They contain the genes that code for the main virulence factors. Plasmid pXO2 codes for poly-D-glutamine capsule, while pXO1 codes for anthrax toxin, which is responsible for the clinical symptoms of anthrax. It consists of three protein components: protective antigen (PA), edema factor (EF) and lethal/lethal factor (LF). Anthrax, as a zoonosis, is primarily a disease that attacks animals, most often herbivores (cattle, sheep, goats). People can become infected when they come into contact with spores through contaminated animal products, by eating contaminated meat, by inhalation, etc. Depending on the way that the spores enter the body, there are four types of anthrax: cutaneous, which is the most common type, followed by gastrointestinal, inhalation (pulmonary) and the rarest, injection anthrax. Today, the most effective control of the disease is animal vaccination.