Diagnostic dilemma: Teenager contracts rare 'welder's anthrax,' marking the ninth known case ever reported

A construction worker in safety helmet and gloves uses an angle grinder on a steel plate, sending a cascade of bright orange sparks across a dim industrial workshop.

The patient: An 18-year-old in Louisiana

The symptoms: The teenager, who was training to be a welder, developed a cough and was hospitalized with pneumonia and respiratory failure a week later. He was intubated at the hospital, meaning a tube was placed into his airway and attached to a machine to help him breathe.