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Anthrax spreads from diseased cow

26 people infected in Pabna

Ahmed Humayun Kabir, Pabna
Anthrax is suspected to have transmitted to humans from a diseased cowin a Pabna village recently affecting at least 26 people, officials in Dhaka and Pabna said.
On information, a team comprised of specialists from the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) and Livestock Department collected blood and skin tissues from several affected people at Chhoto Pathail village under Santhia
upazila on August 27.
The team also sent the specimens for biopsy at the laboratories of IEDCR and Institute of Cholera and Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B).
Senior Scientific Officer of IEDCR Moshtaque Hossain acknowledged the specimens being tested at two labs to ascertain the suspected anthrax transmission in humans but declined to elaborate on the matter.
Dr Apurba Chakrabarty, a member of the team that visited the affected people,
said he was not authorised to divulge anything to the press about the suspected an tit rax issue.
Anthrax is a deadly disease caused by a rod-shaped bacterium called bacillus anthracis, with a width of 1-1.2 micron and a length of 3-5 micron. It affects both humans and animals and most forms of the disease are highly lethal. There are effective vaccines against anthrax, and some forms of the disease respond well to antibiotic treatment.
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rod-shaped bacterium called bacillus anthracis, with a width of 1-1.2 micron and a length of 3-5 micron. It affects both humans and animals and most forms of the disease are highly lethal. There are effective vaccines against anthrax, and some forms of the disease respond well to antibiotic treatment.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Civil Surgeon of Pabna Dr AHM Khairul Alam Chowdhury said the specimens were sent to Dhaka for tests on suspicion of anthrax but he said he would not be able to confirm it as yet.
Officials in Pabna said some people of Chhoto Pathail village were infected with the suspected anthrax after consuming meat of a diseased cow. The livestock department officials confirmed the infection o f anthrax to the cow.
Villagers said the disease spread first among the people who processed the cow after it was slaughtered. The people who ate the meat of the cow also fell sick.
At first 17 persons were infected with the disease in Santhia upazila. Later, the number of patients increased in (he area. Santhia upazila health department sources confirmed the number of
affected people to be 26.
Of the suspected anthrax affected people, condition of 17 adults and children -Abdus Sattar, 60, Mabia, 40, Bonna, 5, Idris, 18, Afiz Uddin, 60, Monjil, 29, Sarifa, 65, Morjina, 20, Asha, 12, Bulbuli, 17, Hassan, 35, Masud, 13. Mongolia, 18, Mijan, 33, Saleka, 55, Azam, 28 and Afzal; 35 are stated to be critical.
Santhia Upazila Health Officer Dr Md Monsurul Alam told The Daily Star, “We have given the patients a medicine course of 10 days. The disease can spread through eating meats of infected animals and also from people who have already contracted the disease."
Pabna District Livestock Officer Md Abdul Hamid confirmed The Daily Star that they have already identified the disease in the animal. “We have visited the spot with the team that came from Dhaka. We have examined the bone and flesh of the dead animal and confirmed the anthrax disease. At least three cows died in the disease last week,” he said.
He said it was a new phenomenon that anthrax is suspected to have spread to humans from the animals.
Deputy Civil Surgeon of Pabna Dr Dipak Kumar told The Dally Star till the time they get test reports from Dhaka the
district health department officials would continue keeping watch so that tire disease does notspread further.
On August 13 Tehran Times reported that 150 people in Iran were infected with anthrax and quoted a health ministry official claiming, "We have managed to control the spread of the disease throughout the country during recent years."
Wikipedia says bacterium responsible for anthrax can form dormant spores that are able to survive in harsh conditions for extremely long periods of time-even decades or centuries, and such spores can be found on all continents, even Antarctica.
When spores are inhaled, ingested, or come into contact with a skin lesion on a host they may reactivate and multiply rapidly.
Anthrax commonly infects wild and domesticated herbivorous mammals, which ingest or inhale the spores while grazing. Carnivores living in the same environment may become infected by consuming infected animals. Diseased animals can spread anthrax to humans, either by direct contact or consumption of diseased animals' flesh. Anthrax spores can be used as a biological weapon.