Anthrax outbreak could have been avoided

Eight people in the southern Kyrgyz provinces of Osh and Batken have been hospitalised under suspicion of having contracted anthrax. "Their health condition is satisfactory, the patients are recovering," medical personnel told IRIN at the Kyzyl-Kiya and Nookat hospitals in the south. According to the epidemiological department at the Kyrgyz health ministry, all those suspected of contracting anthrax took part in slaughtering a cow with the disease. Part of the meat was divided among themselves, while the remaining 120 kg was sold to the residents of Toolos village in the Nookat district of Osh province. Some 65 people, who consumed the infected meat, were put under observation. The skin and the head of the slaughtered cow had been given to some local people and had not been located. Meanwhile, preventive measures are being taken in districts on the border of Osh and Batken provinces. "Eight teams consisting of epidemiologists, infectious diseases specialists and vets are working in Nookat and Aravan districts, checking every household," local health officials told IRIN. Last year, 10 cases of anthrax were registered in the Kara-Kulja district of Osh province. Some 600 people who had come into contact with infected meat had passed through preventive treatment. Kyrgyz specialists blame the anthrax incidents on weak veterinary and sanitary surveillance and control, coupled with consumers' carelessness and ignorance. "Nobody can sell meat if he didn't have a veterinary certificate before," Sartbay Aaliev, a resident of Nookat district, told IRIN in Nookat. "Now they sell meat without any certificate - god knows its quality - in every corner, but nobody cares." "It is very important that people should be watchful, buy good quality meat and don't look for cheap, low quality meat," Inna Chernova, a senior epidemiologist at the Kyrgyz epidemiological department told IRIN from the capital Bishkek. Chernova also said that in Osh province alone there were 247 "pestholes" - places where anthrax had occured in the past. Nearly 200 of them were detected, registered, fenced and covered with concrete. But now these spaces are not protected. "The majority of the pestholes are left unattended, metal fences are taken away, there are no warning signs and there is a real threat of new outbreaks," Kamil Atahanov, a retired prominent health specialist in Kyrgyzstan, told IRIN. Some representatives of health institutions urge authorities to ensure the covering safety of places where infected animals have been buried. However, local authorities say they have no resources to tackle the problem. "International organisations are not extending their hand of help - they say that the country can cope with the problem itself," health officials at the epidemiological department said. Sites of anthrax outbreaks and burial grounds of infected animals can pose a health threat for hundreds of years, they added. Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium bacillus anthracis. Anthrax most commonly occurs in wild and domestic lower vertebrates (cattle, sheep, goats, camels, antelopes, and other herbivores), but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to tissue from infected animals. Untreated infections may be fatal. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) sporadic cases occur in animals worldwide and there are occasional outbreaks in Central Asia.