A textile worker who is the first Briton in five years to contract the killer disease anthrax today said he owed his life to eagle-eyed Bradford doctors.

Father-of-five Fazal Mahmood Dad went to the accident and emergency unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary with what he thought was a severe arm infection. But plastic surgeon David Sharpe wondered whether he was suffering from anthrax which was quickly confirmed by expert Dr Paul McWhinney, the infectious diseases consultant at Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust.

Mr Dad, 35, of Thornbury, Bradford, is now being treated with antibiotics and is expected to make a full recovery from the skin form of anthrax, which proves fatal in one in five cases if treatment is delayed.

Speaking from his hospital bed he revealed that he had never even heard of the disease of which there has not been a confirmed case in the UK since 1995.

He is thought to have contracted it during his work as a machine minder at Joseph Dawson's cashmere factory in Leeds Road, Bradford, where he handles wool daily.

Mr Dad said he feared he had skin cancer when doctors started to take photographs of his arm.

"But I came in and they caught it in time and that's the main thing," he said.

"I'm very grateful to the hospital. When they told me you have got this disease, the first thing I asked was if it was curable."

Despite never having seen a case of anthrax during his medical career, Dr McWhinney was certain about the diagnosis.

"It was absolutely a classic case," he said. "There would be no doubt about it."

Anthax is a bacterium which forms resistant spores which survive in the environment, such as in dust and animal hair, and usually spreads to people from animals. The spores can live for many years. Textile workers are considered at high risk of contracting the disease and treatment is with antibiotics.

It cannot be spread from person to person but other workers at the factory have been alerted of the risk.

Dr McWhinney said he did not expect to see any more cases as anyone who was likely to have developed the disease from the same source as Mr Dad's infection would have shown it by now.

A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said the factory's processing department had been shut while investigations continue. Bradford Council's environmental health department is working with HSE officials on the investigation.

Samples have been taken from around the factory for analysis to assess the risk to other workers at the premises and in a bid to track down the source.

Dr McWhinney, who started work in Bradford last March, said the pulmonary form of the disease, which started with a chest infection but quickly worsened, had a 100 per cent death rate.

"Coming to Bradford you would think a bit more about anthrax, especially with the history of anthrax in Bradford," he said.

A 100 years ago, the disease was not uncommon in Bradford's woollen textile industry. With the introduction of the chemical treatment of hides and fleeces, which kills anthrax spores, the disease is now extremely rare in Britain.

The first sign of anthrax in Mr Dad was Friday, August 11, when he noticed a small spot on his arm. He put antiseptic cream on it, but by Saturday it had got worse and a GP gave him antibiotics for a skin infection. But last Sunday, his arm was so swollen that he went to the hospital where he was admitted.

He has worked at Joseph Dawson's for two years, and has been employed in the textile industry in Bradford for more than 15 years.

Peter Booth, national organiser for the manufacturing sector in the Transport and General Workers Union, said prevention of anthrax in the textile industry was always under review.

"It's always of concern because it can be fatal. As wool workers, it's a name we don't want to hear."

ends