One person has been confirmed dead from anthrax and 85 others have found to be infected after all of them consumed infected meat in Indonesia’s Yogyakarta province, said local authorities on Tuesday.
Anthrax is a lethal infectious disease that commonly affects cattle or goats. Human beings can be infected only when they come into contact with anthrax-affected animals or consume their meat.
Head of the Gunungkidul Regency Health Agency, Dewi Irawati, said in a press conference that they found the spread of anthrax in the regency after receiving a report from government-owned Sardjito Central General Hospital that a 73-year-old resident died from the virus on June 4.
The agency, then, conducted further examination of the patient and found that he had consumed meat from his own cow after it died from an illness.
“Then, we found that the patient also distributed the meat to dozens of other residents in his neighborhood. Thus, we did blood tests on 125 residents and found 85 of them infected,” Irawati said.
“Most of them have shown symptoms like diarrhea, sores on the skin, and small reddish lumps or swelling appearing on their hands. But now they have been consuming antibiotics,” said the official.
Irawati also said that the regional authorities had moved fast to name the area nearby as the red zone for 120 days since the finding and advised the residents to only consume meat from healthy livestock.
