****NOTE: Anthrax is NOT a human virus. It is an infectious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a BACTERIA. But, the article is interesting nonetheless. Enjoy!
Laboratory tests on meat samples from one slaughtered cow on a farm in Russia confirmed the presence of anthrax. This confirmation has launched a regional state of emergency in the republic of Kalmykia in Southern Russia. Twelve contact people are in the hospital.
The current containment strategy is vaccination: 512 head of livestock, 256 head of small cattle, 21 horses and 64 pigs have been vaccinated.
The region is particularly sensitive to this viral outbreak because there was a similar outbreak during the fall of 2010. That outbreak resulted in 3 anthrax confirmed bovine illnesses, and 8 people were admitted to the hospital, however none of the human cases were confirmed by laboratory test results.
ProMed article: http://promedmail.oracle.com/pls/otn/pm?an=20110109.0109
RIA Novosti news article: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110102/162024744.html
-Lauren Platt
It's so interesting to read about places with endemic anthrax because I feel like (from a USA-centric point of view) the first time I ever heard of anthrax was when we feared it might be used as a form of bioterrorism. It seems to be happening in lots of places in Asia recently (according to the 50 e-mails a day that ProMed keeps sending :) )!-Autumn
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