Ranchi: The illegal interstate trading of livestock between Odisha and Jharkhand and the eating habits of people are contributing to anthrax scare in several blocks of Simdega district, believe officials of the state health department and Simdega district administration.
"Monday's suspected anthrax outbreak in Thethaitangar block, which claimed one life and took 13 more in its fold, has to do with rampant illegal cattle trade," state chapter of the integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) said.
"The bordering districts of Odisha too have recorded history of anthrax in the past. The cows, which are moved illegally into Jharkhand can be contaminated. The traders leave behind ill ones to die, which are later consumed by the villagers," said Dr Ramesh Prasad, chief of Jharkhand IDSP.
The recurrent anthrax outbreaks in Simdega since 2014 have been a result of villagers consuming the meat of dead livestock, officials of the health department said. Though the specimen culture reports of patients are awaited, the department officials believe Monday's mass contamination also happened under similar circumstances.
The district administration initiated vaccination drive for over 50,000 resident livestock population following anthrax outbreak in Bandarchuwa and Kolebira blocks last year. A vaccination drive has been ordered and 20,000 dosages have been requisitioned hastily following Monday's contamination. However Simdega DC Vijay Kumar Singh underscored the cattle trade problem. "Simdega falls in the route of illegal traders supplying cattle from Odisha to Bangladesh. Contamination can easily happen through infected cattle," Kumar said.
"We have conducted several raids to check the problem but the action have been reined in following the Latehar incident," he added.
Medical experts say anthrax bacteria can lie dormant in the soil for as long as 60 years and pop up after cattle graze the contaminated area. It spreads through air and consumption, upping chances of human contamination. A total of 10 people have died of anthrax in Simdega since 2014.
The eating habit of the district's resident tribal population is also posing problems. The IDSP's door-to-door campaigning last year to stop consumption of dead cattle meat has not yielded desired results. Health minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi on Wednesday admitted loopholes in the awareness programs. "We have to reach every village door and every Panchayat. The health workers will be pressed into action. Awareness measures are all we can take at this moment," he added.