Six people infected with Anthrax in AP doing well: Official

Hyderabad, Jan 22 (UNI) Six labourers working in a sheep farm, who were infected with Anthrax at Karvetinagaram in Chittoor district, were treated with antibiotics and are doing well, an official said today.

Talking to UNI here, Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandry department Director L Mohan said the workers were infected with Cutanious Anthrax, one of the three types of disease, after they ate meat of a dead sheep on January 10. The infected persons were provided antibiotics.

Mr Mohan said two sheeps died suddenly in a village, which led to the spread of the disease rapidly. The alert Animal Husbandry department had taken up sheep vaccination programme in Chittoor district, which was an endemic area along with Nellore and Kadapa districts.

The department was conducting awareness programmes on Anthrax in Chittoor district and had deployed staff in every village. The vaccination programme was being taken up once in six months in the three endemic districts.

The best way to prevent the outbreak of Anthrax was to bury the dead sheep in a deep gorge immediately, the official said, adding that the three districts were Anthrax endemic areas because sheep leather was being stocked for a long time and transported to Tamil Nadu regularly.

Mr Mohan added that the outbreak of Anthrax cases in sheep had come down to 35 in 2007 from 95 in 2000. Similarly, the cases in cattle had declined to five per year since 2006 from 52 during 1998 to 2000.

UNI AP VA GD PY AS1733