Bacillus anthracis es una especie del género de bacterias Gram positivas Bacillus. La bacteria fue identificada simultánea e independientemente por primera vez por Aloys Pollander, en Alemania, y en Francia por Pierre Rayer y Casimir Davaine. Fue la primera bacteria con demostración patógena concluyente en 1877 por Robert Koch, quien también logró demostrar su cultivo y el descubrimiento del fenómeno de esporulación. El nombre de la especie, anthracis, proviene del griego anthrakis (ἄνθραξ), "carbón", y se refiere al carbunco cutáneo, la patología más común producida por la bacteria, en el cual se forma una gran lesión negra en la piel. El carbunco es una zoonosis que afecta tanto a humanos como a animales; según la vía de infección se clasifica en tres tipos: carbunco cutáneo (de la piel), pulmonar (pulmón) y digestivo (estómago y demás órganos digestivos).

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Bacillus anthracis is the etiologic agent of anthrax—a common disease of livestock and, occasionally, of humans—and the only obligate pathogen within the genus Bacillus. B. anthracis is a Gram-positive, endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, with a width of 1.0–1.2 µm and a length of 3–5 µm. It can be grown in an ordinary nutrient medium under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. It is one of few bacteria known to synthesize a protein capsule (poly-D-gamma-glutamic acid). Like Bordetella pertussis, it forms a calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase exotoxin known as Anthrax edema factor, along with anthrax lethal factor. It bears close genotypical and phenotypical resemblance to Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis. All three species share cellular dimensions and morphology. All form oval spores located centrally in an unswollen sporangium. B. anthracis endospores, in particular, are highly resilient, surviving extremes of temperature, low-nutrient environments, and harsh chemical treatment over decades or centuries. The endospore is a dehydrated cell with thick walls and additional layers that form inside the cell membrane. It can remain inactive for many years, but if it comes into a favorable environment, it begins to grow again. It initially develops inside the rod-shaped form. Features such as the location within the rod, the size and shape of the endospore, and whether or not it causes the wall of the rod to bulge out are characteristic of particular species of Bacillus. Depending upon the species, the endospores are round, oval, or occasionally cylindrical. They are highly refractile and contain dipicolinic acid. Electron micrograph sections show they have a thin outer endospore coat, a thick spore cortex, and an inner spore membrane surrounding the endospore contents. The endospores resist heat, drying, and many disinfectants (including 95% ethanol). Because of these attributes, B. anthracis endospores are extraordinarily well-suited to use (in powdered and aerosol form) as biological weapons. Such weaponization has been accomplished in the past by at least five state bioweapons programs—those of the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Russia, and Iraq—and has been attempted by several others.

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