Slaughterhouses play down fear of anthrax outbreak<\/p>\n
Novan Iman Santosa and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Workers at city slaughterhouses played down on Tuesday the fear
\nthat anthrax-infected cattle or meat could enter Jakarta,
\npointing to the measures in place to prevent such an occurrence.<\/p>\n
The fear was raised following a report that six workers, not
\nfive as reported earlier, at a cattle-breeding farm in Kebon
\nPedes village, Bogor regency, West Java, became infected with
\nanthrax after being exposed to blood from an anthrax-infected cow
\nthat was slaughtered there on Aug. 6.<\/p>\n
An employee at the Tanah Abang goat slaughterhouse, Iksan,
\ntold The Jakarta Post that a veterinarian examined the goats
\nbefore they were slaughtered, usually at about 3 a.m.<\/p>\n
\"If he detects a diseased goat, we must slaughter the goat
\nseparately from the other goats and burn its body,\" he said,
\nadding that this had become a standard operation at all city-
\ncertified slaughterhouses.<\/p>\n
\"We have never found any cases of anthrax here,\" said Iksan,
\nwho has worked at the slaughterhouse for more than 10 years.<\/p>\n
The last anthrax case in Jakarta occurred in 1981, involving
\nan infected milk cow in Condet, East Jakarta. There have been no
\nreported cases since.<\/p>\n
According to Iksan, most of the goats at the Tanah Abang
\nslaughterhouse were delivered from Central and East Java.<\/p>\n
\"We hardly ever slaughter goats from West Java, which is prone
\nto anthrax,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Tanah Abang slaughterhouse normally slaughters about 200
\ngoats a day, with the meat distributed to a number of traditional
\nmarkets and supermarkets in the city.<\/p>\n
Jakarta has five slaughterhouses -- Cakung in East Jakarta,
\nMampang Prapatan in South Jakarta and Tanjung Priok in North
\nJakarta, all for cows; and Pulogadung in East Jakarta and Tanah
\nAbang in Central Jakarta, for goats.<\/p>\n
Sudianto of the Cakung slaughterhouse said all of the cows
\ndelivered to the slaughterhouse had to have medical certificates.<\/p>\n
\"We haven't had any cows with anthrax,\" he said, adding that
\nmost of the animals came from areas with no reported anthrax
\noutbreaks, such as East Java, Bali, Madura, West Nusa Tenggara
\nand Lampung.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the City Husbandry Agency announced that it would
\nbegin taking samples from the city's slaughterhouses and markets
\nfor examination in the laboratory.<\/p>\n
\"We have just established a team to survey all the markets and
\nslaughterhouses, especially those located near Bogor.<\/p>\n
\"The team will also monitor all inbound meat and cattle
\ntraffic into Jakarta for possible infection,\" Naniek, the head of
\nanimal disease monitoring, prevention and eradication at the
\nagency, told the Post.<\/p>\n
Naniek also said the agency would begin vaccinating all cattle
\nin areas close to Bogor, especially in East and South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
She also urged city residents not to panic and to follow
\nsimple precautions to guard against any possibility of anthrax
\ninfection.<\/p>\n
\"Residents must always buy meat from official and certified
\noutlets. It is also important to cook meat properly.<\/p>\n
\"Any infected cattle must be burned or buried at least three
\nmeters deep, with lime.<\/p>\n
\"In the early stages of the disease, victims can be treated
\nwith antibiotics,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Contacted separately, the director general for public health
\nat the Ministry of Health, Azrul Aswar, said people should not be
\nalarmed by the recent anthrax cases.<\/p>\n
\"Bogor has long been known as an anthrax area, and the disease
\ncan reoccur there. But we have antibiotics that can easily treat
\nthe disease,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
Purwakarta, Subang, Bekasi, Karawang and Depok are other
\nanthrax-endemic regions in West Java.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Bandung, the West Java Animal Husbandry Agency
\ndeclared Bogor a closed city for the cattle trade for the next
\nthree months, in order to localize the impact of the anthrax
\noutbreak.<\/p>\n
\"We have also vaccinated all of the cattle in Bogor to prevent
\nthe spread of anthrax,\" the agency said.<\/p>\n
The agency's head of veterinary health, Musni Suatmodjo, said
\nthe trade ban was imposed on cows, bulls, goats and sheep, which
\nare vulnerable to anthrax infection.<\/p>\n
Musni said his agency also would set up temporary offices at
\nthe village and subdistrict levels to supervise the isolation
\npolicy in Bogor.<\/p>\n
He told people to remain alert for anthrax within an area of
\nsome five kilometers around the outbreak in Kebon Pedes<\/p>\n
In Bogor, the local agricultural agency has vaccinated cattle
\nin the mayoralty to prevent further anthrax cases.<\/p>\n
\"We have vaccinated 9,000 out of 16,180 sheep here and also
\n627 of 683 cows,\" said the agency's head of veterinary health,
\nHerlien Krisnaningsih.<\/p>\n
Herlien said Kebon Pedes was one of the villages in Bogor
\nwhere anthrax was endemic. Records show that there have been
\noutbreaks of anthrax in the village in 1968, 1975 and 1988.<\/p>\n
Anthrax symptoms in humans<\/p>\n
1. Respiratory form: The disease starts with flu-like
\nsymptoms and chest pains, which can develop into respiratory
\nproblems, lung inflammation, shock, coma and death.<\/p>\n
2. Intestinal form: Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and
\nfever, accompanied by severe cramps and bloody diarrhea, shock
\nand even death.<\/p>\n
3. Cerebral form: This form occurs when the bacteria is
\ncarried by the blood to the brain.<\/p>\n
4. Skin form: Occurs when anthrax spores enter the body
\nthrough an open wound. The skin will become itchy and then
\ndevelops blisters. The blisters will turn into black scabs,
\nwith painful sensations and swelling around the blisters.<\/p>",
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