Published Date: 2002-07-16 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH> Anthrax, human - Russia (Kalmykia)
Archive Number: 20020716.4776

ANTHRAX, HUMAN - RUSSIA (KALMYKIA)
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Date: 16 Jul 2002
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: RU EUROPE EEU EMRG DIS NEWS / Interfax 12 Jul 2002 [edited]

A Kalmykia resident died of anthrax contracted from a sick cow.
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"This is the first anthrax victim in 2002. This incident is no in any way
connected with the flood-stricken area in Russian south, or with the
flooded cattle burial sites," Russian chief sanitary inspector Gennady
Onishchenko told Interfax. Onishchenko said that up to 10 to 12 anthrax
cases among people are reported in Russia annually. Traditionally, such
people contract the disease through contact with an infected animal. "The
same recently happened in Kalmykia," the inspector said.
The man killed the sick cow and sold its meat in the Rostov region. As a
result, he contracted a serious form of skin anthrax, which was the cause
of this death, Onishchenko said.
Doctors took all the necessary measures to bring the disease under control.
The victim's family members, who ate the infected meat, were vaccinated and
placed under observation. People who bought the infected meat in Rostov
were also found and vaccinated. "The incubation period is over, and no one
else developed the disease," Onishchenko said.
A general cattle vaccination program is underway in the regions that house
the flooded burial sites for anthrax-infected cattle, since the disease may
be contracted though grass, the inspector said. He said that a vaccination
campaign involving roughly 1500 people was conducted in the Krasnodar
territory and in Karachayevo-Cherkesia. "There are no grounds for concern
that anthrax may spread beyond the flooded cattle burial sites," the
country's chief sanitary inspector said.
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