Anthrax kills boy in Russia, 90 hospitalised

Moscow, Aug 2: A boy has died from anthrax, a rare but serious bacterial illness, in Russia's Siberian region of Yamal while 90 others were hospitalised, officials reported on Tuesday (Aug 2).

"Currently, in the hospital of the Salekhard, there are 90 persons brought from the hotbed of the outbreak," Xinhua news agency cited local media quoting Natalya Khlopunova, spokeswoman of the Yamal region's governor as saying.

On Monday, a 12-year-old boy died after being diagnosed with anthrax.

An outbreak of the highly infectious disease had killed 2,349 reindeer, while more than 35,000 reindeer out of 700,000 had been vaccinated against the disease, the local government said in an online statement.

A state of emergency has been declared in the Yamalo-Nenets district, where currently 44 veterinary physicians were controlling the situation and more were expected to arrive shortly, the regional government said.

"The hotbed for people has been contained. But all measures will continue until we vaccinate all animals and are totally certain of people's safety," Anna Popova, head of the consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor and the country's chief epidemiologist said, adding that there was no threat of the disease spreading to other regions.

IANS