Officials check for anthrax

Officials check for anthrax

Agencies, Jakarta

Health officials in Makassar carried out house-to-house checks on Thursday for signs of anthrax infections in humans following the deaths of at least 20 animals in the area.

Sixty monitors were deployed to "inform the population about the disease and explain what to do to prevent it, and at the same time ... detect any cases of human infection," Makassar's health office head, Naisah, said.

Naisah told AFP that after the first case of animal anthrax infection was confirmed on Nov. 11, local authorities set up a center to deal with the outbreak at Tamangapa village, with more than 200 people appearing for checks.

She said that public health officers had taken blood samples from 11 people. Four of them showed superficial symptoms of anthrax and the rest were people with a high susceptibility to the disease because of their occupations.

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease that typically affects livestock, but can be transmitted to humans through exposure to infected animals, either through handling or eating infected meat that is undercooked. Anthrax spores can also be inhaled, which is usually fatal.

Nurlina Saking, from the Makassar animal husbandry office, said that more than 20 cows and water buffaloes were believed to have died of anthrax although only four cases were confirmed.

A ban on the movement of livestock in and out of the area was being enforced, she said, while officials were gearing up for a massive vaccination drive, with 65,000 doses being prepared for distribution.

Sick animals were being treated with antibiotics, she added. The overstretched health system in Indonesia, a sprawling nation of more than 17,000 islands, is already battling outbreaks of bird flu as well as a resurgence in polio cases.

Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriantono said on Thursday the government was currently investigating reports that anthrax had spread to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province after several cases emerged in South Sulawesi.

"I have received reports that several Anthrax cases have been found in Sikka and Ende regencies on Flores island. I ask all of us to deal with this problem seriously to prevent possible human infections," he told a group of poultry farmers at a meeting near Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, as quoted by Antara.

The minister urged the East Nusa Tenggara administration to carry out a large vaccination drive on cattle, water buffaloes and horses in affected areas to prevent the spread of anthrax.

"We all should learn from what has happened in South Sulawesi, where anthrax first emerged. Due to the local administrations' negligence, now the disease has spread to the province's capital of Makassar," he said.