Six die after eating goat meat

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

In the past four days, six residents of Citaringgul, Babakan Madang district, died, after eating goat meat that was suspected of being infected with anthrax.

Nine others are still being treated at Cibinong Hospital after eating the meat.

The fatalities have been identified as Komariah, 35, and her daughter Latifah, 12, Eha Julaeha, 28, Megasari, 12, Atin Prihatin, 13 and one-and-a-half-year old Nurul Nivianti.

Those who were hospitalized are Puspa Rahayu, 19, and her two sisters Linda, 15, and Dewi Kurniawati Anggraeni, 8, Agus Faisal, 30, Apendi, 25, Utay Muchtar, 42, Deni, 4, and Komariah's four- month-old son Pupuh.

Puspa revealed that her uncle, Mustopa, had slaughtered his sick goat days before the beginning of Ramadhan fasting month on Oct. 14, sending the innards and the head of the goat to the family of his father-in-law Ayub Anshar.

"We cooked the goat ... but days after that each one of us started to suffer from headaches, stomach aches, high fever, and vomiting," she said.

The first of the family members to die was Atin Prihatin on Oct. 18. Komariah died on Thursday.

Cibinong Hospital doctor Wahju Kurdijanti said that the blood samples of the patients were still being examined by the Veterinary Research Agency.