Objective       To provide the evidence for prevention and control of anthrax by studying the epidemiological characteristics of anthrax outbreak cases and analyzing the causes of anthrax infection in China.      Methods        Papers on epidemiology of 84 anthrax outbreak cases retrieved from Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and Chinese Science and Technology Journals Database were systematically reviewed.       Results       The 84 anthrax outbreak cases occurred in rural or pastoral areas. Of the 990 anthrax patients with a male to female ratio of 4.2∶1

970 were cured and 20 died

87.2% aged 15-60 years

92.4% were farmers and herdsmen

79.5% were located in West and South China

87.8% occurred in May to September. The median shortest incubation time was 2 days

the median longest incubation time was 8 days

the median diagnosis time of the first patient was 4 days

and 98.3% of the patients contacted with the affected or died animals or their meat. The relative risk was significantly higher for slaughters than for those who ate the meat (RR=55.47

95%CI=26.03-118.21

P0.000 01). The median epidemic control time for the 77 cases was 10 days.      Conclusion       Anthrax outbreak usually occurs in rural or pastoral areas. Young adults and farmers are at a high risk to infect with anthrax. Slaughtering affected or died animals or contacting their meat is the main cause of anthrax infection.