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Published Date: 2003-10-03 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Anthrax, human & cattle - Russia (Volgograd)
Archive Number: 20031003.2486

ANTHRAX, HUMAN & CATTLE - RUSSIA (VOLGOGRAD)
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Date: 10/02/03 17:03 MSK
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Pravda [edited]
<http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/87/348/11005_anthrax.html>

Anthrax Cattle Graves: Russia's 500-year Disease Threat
--------------------------------------------------
Veterinary records confirm an anthrax outbreak in Russia's Volgograd
region. 3 cases have been registered -- 2 blamed on a diseased cow killed
for a meat-packing factory.
The outbreak at Vodno-Buerachny in Kamyshinsky district followed a vet
missing signs of anthrax symptoms in the beast, attributed to "atypical
development of the disease." Though the animal looked unhealthy, it still
went to the slaughterman and ended up as sausage meat, a case report says.
Compounding the offence, the carcass was not medically examined and the
diseased meat was processed inside a week -- while trouble reared when the
cow's now sick owner and the slaughterman went to hospital. They and
another animal owner were diagnosed with a skin form of anthrax and the
settlement was quarantined. Unlike the intestinal and pulmonary strain,
this can be cured easily, doctors say.
But while vets are charged with checking live animals for diseases like
this, anthrax burial sites are going unmonitored for the huge health
dangers lurking there. Volgograd's regional administration says their
territory is home to at least 1500 anthrax sites, many neglected because
exact locations are known for just a few. [See moderator's comment
below.] Before 1948, infected carcasses were not cremated, as is practice
now. Since then, landscapes have changed and settlements knowing of many
sites have disappeared. The spores, meanwhile, have a lifetime of up to 500
years even underground. [If that were true, every vet would be vaccinating
every cow everywhere every year. - Mod.MHJ] Neglected sites are as deadly
as decades ago. [A few yes, the rest no. - Mod.MHJ]
Senior assistant at the Inter-regional Environmental Prosecution Office
Alexander Bondar says of 600 anthrax burial places in 12 Volga Basin
districts, locations of only 15 are known for sure. In the Russian republic
of Tatarstan, though, the exact position of 80 percent of such sights have
been determined.
Ordinary burial grounds of non-contagious cattle pose their own threats
when neglect breeds a whole spread of disease. Inspectors checking these in
the Volgograd region found all sites flouted regulations, which demand 10
meters of depth and sides covered with concrete, Bondar said. Most of these
are just huge pits, haphazardly covered over. Veterinarians there record
306 "equipped" burial places and 155 classed "primitive."
Landsite owners are responsible for building disposal sites [for] cattle
burial places. Construction of a pit costs about 100-120 thousand rubles.
Fines for construction violations are relatively low and are little deterrent.
Things could become worse as the state Agriculture Ministry has made
veterinary services funded from budgets of lower-tier federal
administrations. This may bring staff cuts. Estimates put maintaining
Volgograd region's local veterinary work at 150 million rubles a year.
[Byline: Liana Nalbandyan]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Firstly, let me quote my good friend Benyamin Cherkasskiy, who has been
following anthrax in Russia and the Soviet Union for many years:
"The causes largely responsible for persistence of human anthrax in Russia
are: (1) Uncontrollable slaughtering of sick livestock without prior
veterinary examination and laboratory testing; (2) The distribution of meat
and byproducts from these dead and slaughtered sick animals through the
trading networks and the food industry; (3) Increase of the uncontrolled
use of wool and hides from dead and slaughtered sick animals; (4) Increase
in numbers of cases in relation to the importation of infected meat and
other animal products form other states of the CIS; (5) Decrease of anthrax
vaccination of high-risk livestock; (6) Poor awareness of anthrax and
proper prophylactic methods.
In the last decade in Russia there has been (1) a tendency of the disease
to shift south; (2) increased incidence of the disease in privately owned
herds; (3) an increase of relative share of pigs among infected animals,
and a increased incidence among sheep and goats; ( 4) more incidents of
disease in the winter-spring periods, particularly among pigs; (5) a rise
in disease incidence at sites previously unknown to have continuous anthrax
problems."
From Benyamin's comments it is clear that the non-inspection of sick
animals and sudden deaths has also contributed to the increase in
out-of-season attacks through contaminated livestock feeds. Unless the
affected pigs are in the same field or farm with the affected ruminants,
one should always suspect contaminated pig food; when animals are
shade-slaughtered, the viscera are frequently fed to pigs.
Benyamin has a complete register of the recorded anthrax outbreaks for the
past 100 years, and this is being converted for GIS studies under ISTC
funding. No mean feat; as it involves thousands of sites. While some grave
sites can remain contaminated for decades, in fact they form a very small
minority of the total. Why this is so is not clear, but logically it would
include whether the carcass had been opened before burial, as this would
allow massive sporulation. Secondly soil type is important; spores do
not survive well in acid soils, for example. And in a number of instances,
though _B. anthracis_ has been recovered from the soil at these graves
decades after burial, the isolates have been rendered apathogenic through
loss of their plasmids. The very expensive cattle graves prescribed above
can only add to the problem by encouraging the non-reporting of possible
cases. - Mod.MHJ]

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