38 infected with anthrax in Bangladesh
By IANSFriday, August 20, 2010
DHAKA - At least 38 people have been detected with anthrax, three weeks after they consumed beef from two infected cows in a village in Bangladesh, an offical said.
The incident happened in Sirajganj district, 134 km from Dhaka, Xinhua reported.
“The preliminary signs and symptoms show that the people have been infected with anthrax,” local livestock officer Altaf Hossain was Friday quoted as saying by official news agency BSS.
The outbreak is the second in the country. The first anthrax case was detected in August last year after 35 people fell sick in Pabna district after eating meat from an infected cow.
Two expert teams from the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research visited the spot Friday, and urged people not to panic.
Sirajganj district civil surgeon Nurul Islam Talukdar said steps have been taken to provide treatment to the sick people and vaccinate livestock.
Anthrax, a bacteria, commonly infects grazing animals, which ingest or inhale the bacteria. Diseased animals can then spread the bacteria to humans, either by direct contact or through consumption of the meat.
