Eight people test positive for anthrax in Rangpur

Eight out of 12 people, whose samples were collected from Pirgachha upazila of Rangpur with anthrax symptoms, tested positive at the laboratory of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

IEDCR Director Prof Tahmina Shirin confirmed the matter to The Daily Star yesterday.

The agency collected the samples after two people had died in Pirgachha earlier this month and last month with symptoms resembling anthrax.

However, IEDCR could not confirm whether they had died of anthrax, as no samples were taken from them before their deaths.

Earlier this month, the Department of Livestock also detected anthrax in frozen beef in the same area.

Anthrax is an acute bacterial infection of zoonotic origin that affects both humans and animals, according to IEDCR.

Humans can contract the disease through skin breaches, ingestion of raw or undercooked meat, or inhalation of spores, with an incubation period ranging from 1 to 20 days.

The infection is usually fatal for affected animals. While the fatality rate in humans is very low, if not promptly diagnosed and treated, the infection can turn deadly.

Since 2010, anthrax has been reported every year from different areas of Bangladesh, particularly in the northern regions.

The country experienced a major outbreak in 2015, and IEDCR initiated surveillance for anthrax in 2018, an IEDCR official said.

Panic gripped people in Pirgachha after the death of two persons with symptoms resembling anthrax and the death of more than 100 cows over the past three months.

On August 2, Abdur Razzak, 60, a farmer from Maita village, reportedly slaughtered a sick cow and developed a fever and sores the next day. He died at the hospital on August 9.

Similarly, Komola Begum, 58, a homemaker from Anandi Dhaniram village, fell ill after handling and cooking meat from a sick cow and died on September 6.

After the IEDCR team examined samples collected from 12 people with anthrax symptoms, eight of them tested positive, Prof Shirin said.

Asked about the condition of the eight infected, Pirgachha Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Tanvir Hasnat Robin said, "All of them are presently well, and most of them have already made a full recovery."

However, they were still being monitored, he told The Daily Star yesterday.

Tanvir said locals, albeit initially panicked, now know that the disease is fully curable. "We're campaigning to raise awareness among people so that they do not consume meat from sick cattle or immediately seek treatment if any anthrax symptoms are visible."

Meanwhile, Abu Syed, district livestock officer of Rangpur, said five of the six samples of frozen beef tested positive for anthrax earlier this month.

He said a team from the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute collected the samples from the upazila earlier this month and informed him about the outcome.

However, they did not find anthrax in the samples collected from some sick cattle, he added.

Abu Sayed said they have started a major vaccination programme in the upazila, and that more than half the cattle have already come under the programme.