Experts see anthrax threat in tribal areas

Ranchi: Health officials of the state chapter of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) has not ruled out an outbreak of anthrax in the state despite medical reports of two persons from Simdega, who died on May 8, showed negative results.
IDSP’s state director Dr Ramesh Prasad told TOI on Tuesday that anthrax bacilli (Bacillus anthracis) are found naturally in soil and can remain dormant for more than 50 years.“They (the bacilli) surface during monsoon and infect grazing cattle, which can be easily transmitted to human beings,” said Prasad.
The health programme officials say tribals are more susceptible because of their food habit. “In tribal societies, people consume the meat of cattle that are infected. It can be very dangerous,” Prasad told TOI. Incidentally, both anthrax outbreaks in Simdega (the first one being in Bano block of the district in November last year) occurred after locals consumed dead cattle meat.
Medical experts are stressing on the need to identify anthrax-prone zones across Jharkhand as there are incubator zones, a technical term for places where the bacilli lie dormant after an earlier occurrence. “Unfortunately, there are no records of early anthrax occurrences in Jharkhand (and erstwhile Bihar) prior to the November outbreak,” Dr Sumant Mishra, director of state health services said.
The disease, which spawns in the bodies of animals, can be traced by inspecting livestock that die under mysterious circumstances. But an iron curtain between the health and the animal husbandry departments ensures no such monitoring happens. Last month, a large number of livestock died because of the disease in Giridih, “but we have no clue how they happen,” a senior health official said.
The outbreaks in Simdega could mean that it has become an incubator zone for anthrax bacilli and this could be alarming for residents of Ranchi, which is located around 100km away. However, there is not much to be done at this moment, say experts. “For now, we can only create awareness among people, especially tribals, to refrain from dead cattle meat. Awareness camps are being organized in the affected areas,” Dr Prasad said, adding, “awareness is the only way to contain an outbreak.”
Several states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have been affected by anthrax repeatedly. An independent research revealed that 618 cases of anthrax outbreak have been reported in Tamil Nadu between 1995 and 2006.