Agency finds Toxoplasma bacteria in goat meat

JAKARTA (JP): Are you planning to have goat satay for lunch? You'd better order it well-done. Otherwise, you might be infected by a disease carried by animals and infectious to humans, the city's husbandry agency warns.

The agency found out that goat meat that was not well-cooked may contain toxoplasma bacteria.

"Pregnant women are particularly susceptible to the bacteria which can cause miscarriage or birth defects in the unborn," head of the agency Edy Setiarto told reporters after a hearing with the City Council Commission B for economic affairs here on Wednesday.

He said he based his warning on a recent survey which showed that 42 percent of 500 goats which were tested carried the bacteria.

Toxoplasma rarely attacks man, he said, adding that goats infected with the bacteria experienced similar effects to humans.

The survey which is conducted annually was held in July this year. It showed that more than 200 out of 500 goats were infected with toxoplasma. The goats were tested randomly from the city's three slaughter houses in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, in Mampang, South Jakarta and in Pulogadung, East Jakarta.

"However, we will conduct follow-up laboratory tests to achieve more solid results, such as pathology and clinical tests," Edy said.

The July survey applied a serology test on goats' blood serum, he said.

Asked whether the disease had attacked Jakarta residents, Edy said his agency had no data about the number of women who had experienced miscarriages due to toxoplasma.

"I heard that many women who had experienced miscarriages due to toxoplasma, had been treated in the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital," he said.

So far, he said, there was no vaccine to prevent toxoplasma. He called on the public to take extra care in cooking goat's meat, a favorite food of many Jakartans, saying that it should be well-cooked.

"Do not consume half-cooked goat satay. Toxoplasma could only be killed by cooking the meat well," Edy said.

He said he knew that it would be difficult to stop people from consuming under-cooked goat satay since for some people, it had become a habit.

Jakarta residents consumed about 2,500 goats and 400 cows a day.

Earlier in the hearing, Agus Darmawan, a member of the City Council from the National Mandate Party called on the city administration to monitor the process of slaughtering the goats.

Origin

Toxoplasma bacteria comes from cat' feces carried by worms, in leaves and grass. The leaves and grass were then consumed by goats.

Besides the survey on goats, Edy said, the agency also tested some 473 cows and found that some 79 of the cows were infected with brucellae.

"The disease brucellosis could cause miscarriage in cows and fever in human beings," he said.

About 30 of the 79 cows have been killed while the remaining 49 cows would be studied further.

In February this year, the city was shaken by an anthrax outbreak which attacked goats and cows.

It first broke out in Hambalang village in Bogor, an area about 60 kilometers to the south of Jakarta. At least two villagers had reportedly died in the outbreak.

The husbandry agency once required cattle entering the city to be vaccinated against anthrax, as a preventive measure, especially during the Muslim Day of Sacrifice. (jun/hbk)