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.