Nine anthrax cases in south

Nine cases of anthrax in humans have been confirmed in southern Kyrgyzstan and some 30 patients are suspected of having contracted the disease.

“As of yesterday [14 July] we have nine confirmed cases of anthrax and 34 people have been hospitalised with suspected cases. All of the cases are the cutaneous [skin] form,” Jalalidin Gaibulin, head of the National Centre for Quarantine and Especially Dangerous Infections, told IRIN from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on 15 July.

All the cases were registered in southern Kyrgyzstan - in Jalal-Abad and Osh provinces.

“Confirmed cases are receiving treatment and suspected cases are undergoing diagnostic procedures and are under constant surveillance. So the situation is under control,” Gaibulin said.

According to the World Health Organization, anthrax is an acute infection caused by the spore-forming bacteria Bacillus Anthracis. It commonly affects hoofed animals such as sheep and goats. Infection in humans often involves the skin (cutaneous anthrax), the lungs (inhalation anthrax), or the gastrointestinal tract. Anthrax is not contagious and can be treated with antibiotics.

One death reported

It is a multi-faceted issue and all parties involved should act together.

Of the nine confirmed cases, one patient, a 78-year-old man, died on 10 July. “After he and his son slaughtered an infected animal the man got sick and had been staying at his place for several days unaware of the seriousness of his condition. He went to hospital only on 9 July, but it was too late as the disease had already progressed,” Gaibulin said.

Kyrgyzstan’s Health Ministry said in a statement on its website last week that all cases were related to the slaughtering of cattle without prior veterinary examination. The main factor leading to the disease is the natural occurrence of anthrax in the soil, it said.

“Humans contract anthrax via contact with infected animals or their carcasses, and the cattle get infected while grazing in places where infected animals had either died or been buried, or the anthrax virus is still in the soil,” Gaibulin explained.

There were 23 confirmed cases of anthrax in Kyrgyzstan in 2007, all of them in the south. No casualties were reported last year, according to Gaibulin.

Photo: Alimbek Tashtankulov/IRIN

A cattle market in southern Kyrgyzstan, humans can contract anthrax through contact with infected animals

Preventing outbreaks not easy

Preventing anthrax is complex, involving health facilities, veterinary bodies, local authorities and communities themselves, the health official said.

“It is a multi-faceted issue and all parties involved should act together. For instance, villagers tend to minimise their losses whenever their animals fall sick; so what they do is slaughter them, sell or distribute the meat without proper veterinary examination, and end up with various animal-borne diseases like anthrax, brucellosis, etc.,” Gaibulin said, adding that awareness-raising activities among the population were needed.

Every year health workers vaccinate “at risk groups” - people in contact with cattle, like herders and butchers - against various infections, according to the Health Ministry. Meanwhile, veterinary workers are currently vaccinating cattle in areas where anthrax cases have been reported.

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