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Govt steps up efforts to curb anthrax after outbreak kills 3 people
The first deceased tested positive for the bacterial infection, while the other two showed clinical symptoms of anthrax, according to the health official.
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An official of Gunung Kidul Animal Husbandry Agency checks the health of a cow in Gunung Kidul regency, Yogyakarta in this undated photo. (Antara/Gunung Kidul Animal Husbandry Agency via Instagram)
H
ealth authorities are scaling up efforts to curb the spread of anthrax in Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta, following an outbreak that has infected dozens of local residents and killed three people.
Anthrax is a highly contagious zoonotic disease that typically affects livestock and can cause blackened skin, sores, vomiting, shock and meningitis.
Humans can contract the disease by breathing in the spores of the Bacillus anthracis bacteria, consuming contaminated food or drinks or through direct exposure to wounds on infected animals, their meat or their hides.
Anthrax has been used in bioterrorism attacks but is also still prevalent in many parts of the developing world.
Imran Pambudi, the Health Ministry’s director for infectious disease prevention and control, said that the outbreak started on May 18 when a cow belonging to a resident of Candirejo village in Gunung Kidul suddenly died.
“The owner cut up the dead cow and distributed the meat to other residents as part of a local tradition called purak or brandu,” he said in a press briefing on Thursday. “From May 18 to June 4, the Candirejo residents consumed at least three dead livestock in their village.”
Purak or brandu refers to the slaughtering of dying farm animals for their meat to be distributed freely for fellow locals in the spirit of community and communal care.
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