Vol. 3 No. 2, 2010.pmd


EDITORIAL

The Anthrax Outbreak

Anthrax is a zoonatic disease- a disease of animal
transmissible secondarily to human being.. Human to
human transmission of Anthrax is very rare because of the
fact that the vegetative form of the bacteria present in the
diseased man or animal can not cause the disease. The
Bacteria Bacillus Anthracis is a spore forming organism.
It is the spore present in the soil is the only infective form.
Cutaneous anthrax is the most common form and it occurs
by contact with infected animal, raw meat or by contact
with animal during the process of slaughtering or during
preparation of cooking of meat from infected animal.

Anthrax exists in animals and human beings in many
countries of Asia and Africa including Bangladesh.
Institute of Epidemiological Disease Control and research
(IEDCR) detected 13 small scale outbreaks since 2009.

The recent outbreak was first detected in the district of
Sirajganj in the month of August and then  the disease
spread to 12 other districts. It infected 607 persons so far
and all of them had cutaneous Anthrax. All the infected
persons got cured and outbreak of anthrax has been
effectively controlled by the combined effort of the IEDCR,
Health and Livestock Directorate of GOB. No new case
has been reported since 8 October 2010.

 Anthrax is not at all a life threatening disease. Cutaneous
anthrax can be effectively treated by administering simple
antibiotics like Ciprofloxacin or Doxycyclin for 7-10 days.
Ingestion of meat does not usually cause anthrax.
Inhalation has got some historical importance.  That is the
reason why anthrax outbreak has caused wide scale panic
among general population. Consequently consumption
of meat fell down remarkably. The anthrax panic dates

from bio-terrorism attack in USA in 2001in which 24 people
were infected by anthrax bacillus. This deadly infection
was caused by exposure to Bacillus Anthracis in a powder
that had been sent through the mail. Out of them 11 suffered
from Inhalation Anthrax and the rest had Cutaneous
Anthrax. Among the inhalation anthrax cases 5 persons
died while the rest were totally cured. On April 2, 1979,
there was an unusual anthrax outbreak which affected 94
people and killed at least 64 of them in the Soviet city of
Sverdlovsk. The outbreak was caused by an accidental
release of anthrax spores from a suspected Soviet biological
weapons facility

There is no chance of Inhalation Anthrax in our country
since this form of disease is generally caused by bio-
terrorism attack or rarely from industrial exposure.

The recent out break of anthrax is of cutaneous variety
and is treatable with simple antibiotic.  The anthrax
outbreak can occur at any time and is dependent on
environmental and climatic factors. There is no reason to
be panicking as the disease itself is not life threatening
but to be aware. However, the Health and Animal
Husbandry Directorate could jointly undertake an initiative
for building awareness about its cause, how it spreads
and its likely impact upon human health among the people
at large.

M. A. Jalil Chowdhury1, Sharmin Ahmed 2

1Professor, 2FCPS Student, Department of Medicine,
BSMMU