Slaughterhouses play down fear of anthrax outbreak in Jakarta
Slaughterhouses play down fear of anthrax outbreak in Jakarta
Novan Iman Santosa and
Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Workers at city slaughterhouses played down on Tuesday the fear
that anthrax-infected cattle or meat could enter Jakarta,
pointing to the measures in place to prevent such an occurrence.
The fear was raised following a report that six workers, not
five as reported earlier, at a cattle-breeding farm in Kebon
Pedes village, Bogor regency, West Java, became infected with
anthrax after being exposed to blood from an anthrax-infected cow
that was slaughtered there on Aug. 6.
An employee at the Tanah Abang goat slaughterhouse, Iksan,
told The Jakarta Post that a veterinarian examined the goats
before they were slaughtered, usually at about 3 a.m.
"If he detects a diseased goat, we must slaughter the goat
separately from the other goats and burn its body," he said,
adding that this had become a standard operation at all city-
certified slaughterhouses.
"We have never found any cases of anthrax here," said Iksan,
who has worked at the slaughterhouse for more than 10 years.
The last anthrax case in Jakarta occurred in 1981, involving
an infected milk cow in Condet, East Jakarta. There have been no
reported cases since.
According to Iksan, most of the goats at the Tanah Abang
slaughterhouse were delivered from Central and East Java.
"We hardly ever slaughter goats from West Java, which is prone
to anthrax," he said.
The Tanah Abang slaughterhouse normally slaughters about 200
goats a day, with the meat distributed to a number of traditional
markets and supermarkets in the city.
Jakarta has five slaughterhouses -- Cakung in East Jakarta,
Mampang Prapatan in South Jakarta and Tanjung Priok in North
Jakarta, all for cows; and Pulogadung in East Jakarta and Tanah
Abang in Central Jakarta, for goats.
Sudianto of the Cakung slaughterhouse said all of the cows
delivered to the slaughterhouse had to have medical certificates.
"We haven't had any cows with anthrax," he said, adding that
most of the animals came from areas with no reported anthrax
outbreaks, such as East Java, Bali, Madura, West Nusa Tenggara
and Lampung.
Meanwhile, the City Husbandry Agency announced that it would
begin taking samples from the city's slaughterhouses and markets
for examination in the laboratory.
"We have just established a team to survey all the markets and
slaughterhouses, especially those located near Bogor.
"The team will also monitor all inbound meat and cattle
traffic into Jakarta for possible infection," Naniek, the head of
animal disease monitoring, prevention and eradication at the
agency, told the Post.
Naniek also said the agency would begin vaccinating all cattle
in areas close to Bogor, especially in East and South Jakarta.
She also urged city residents not to panic and to follow
simple precautions to guard against any possibility of anthrax
infection.
"Residents must always buy meat from official and certified
outlets. It is also important to cook meat properly.
"Any infected cattle must be burned or buried at least three
meters deep, with lime.
"In the early stages of the disease, victims can be treated
with antibiotics," she said.
Contacted separately, the director general for public health
at the Ministry of Health, Azrul Aswar, said people should not be
alarmed by the recent anthrax cases.
"Bogor has long been known as an anthrax area, and the disease
can reoccur there. But we have antibiotics that can easily treat
the disease," he told the Post.
Purwakarta, Subang, Bekasi, Karawang and Depok are other
anthrax-endemic regions in West Java.
Meanwhile in Bandung, the West Java Animal Husbandry Agency
declared Bogor a closed city for the cattle trade for the next
three months, in order to localize the impact of the anthrax
outbreak.
"We had also vaccinated all cattle in Bogor to prevent the
spread of anthrax," the agency said.
Box:
Anthrax symptoms in humans
1. Respiratory form
The disease starts with flu-like symptoms and chest pains,
which can develop into respiratory problems, lung
inflammation, shock, coma and death.
2. Intestinal form
Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and fever, accompanied by
severe cramps and bloody diarrhea, shock and even death.
3. Cerebral form
This form occurs when the bacteria is carried by the blood to
the brain.
4. Skin form
Occurs when anthrax spores enter the body through an open
wound. The skin will become itchy and then develops blisters. The
blisters will turn into black scabs, with painful sensations and
swelling around the blisters.