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Indonesia confirms anthrax case, orders isolation
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-25 16:53
Blood tests confirmed anthrax caused the deaths of six people after they ate
meat from a sick goat, Indonesia's agriculture ministry said on Monday.
The government has distributed 300,000 doses of vaccine across the nation to
prevent the disease from spreading and has warned people to report immediately
to health facilities if they notice any early symptoms or see them in livestock,
said the ministry's director-general of animal husbandry, H.R. Wasito.
"We have ordered isolation and banned inter-region transportation of
livestock from Babakan," Wasito said referring to the affected area in the Bogor
region south of Jakarta.
The isolation period is set for the next three months, said Wasito.
Anthrax is endemic in several provinces in Indonesia, including West Java,
Central Java, Yogyakarta, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi
and East Nusa Tenggara, he said. Sporadic outbreaks occurred in 2001.
Six Bogor area villagers, five of them related, died after consuming the meat
contaminated by anthrax last week.
Six were being treated on Monday in hospital.
Anthrax can be transmitted to people who cut up, carry or eat the meat of
animals contaminated by the acute infectious bacterial disease. Its bacterial
spores can live for decades in dry soil.
The outbreak is a fresh blow to food and feedlot industries already hurt by
the deadly bird flu virus and Newcastle disease, which have killed 16 million
fowl since the end of last year.
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