ANTHRAX INFECTION

Staff Correspondent

Twenty-two more cases of anthrax infection were detected in Lalmonirhat, Tangail and Rangpur on Wednesday, taking to 435 the total number of such cases in seven districts after it was first detected in Siraganj on August 19.
Nine cases were detected in Lalmonirhat, 10 in Tangail and 3 in Rangpur on Wednesday.
Other districts from where the infection has been reported are Pabna, Tangail, Kushita and Meherpur.
The New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat said nine more anthrax cases were detected at Kisamat Harati in the district
headquarters on Wednesday.
A medical team gave treatment to the anthrax-infected people in the village for the second day on Wednesday. The total number of anthrax infection cases in the district reached 85 till Wednesday afternoon.
A member on the medical team Ahsan Ali Babu, Lalmonirhat upazila health and family planning officer, said the team had enlisted the names of 320 people suspected of having been infected with anthrax at the place.
‘All the 320 men and women dressed and ate the meat of four anthrax-infected cows slaughtered in the village on August 20 and 28,’ he said.
Motiyar Rahman, infected with anthrax, said the villagers of Kisamot Harati village slaughtered four cows, which fell ill a few days ago after they had bought them for lower prices from neighbours.
‘There are at least four hundred people of a hundred families in this village and all ate the beef,’ said Majedul Islam, another villager who has been infected with anthrax.
‘Our medical team has been treating the anthrax-infected people since Tuesday. The team is still working in the area,’ the Lalmonirhat civil surgeon, Jahangir Alam, said.
The Lalmonirhat district livestock officer, Abu Hossain Sarker, said livestock officials were treating the cattle infected or suspected to have been infected with anthrax but the livestock office was facing a shortage of vaccines.
There are at least 3,58,650 cows in the district but the government has sent only 2,700 vaccines, he said.
The correspondent in Tangail said 10 cases of anthrax were detected at Dakkhin Bildanga of Gopalpur in the district on Wednesday.
The upazila livestock officer, Monoranjan Dhar, said people who came in contact with the blood and meat of an infected cow brought from Gobindasi on September 1 had been infected.
The civil surgeon, Abdul Basit, said cases had so far been detected.
The correspondent in Rangpur said three more cases of anthrax infection had been detected in the district.
The district livestock department said two of the three cows suspected to have been infected with anthrax at Hawai Kattari died on Tuesday.
Livestock officials visited the village on Wednesday and ensured treatment of the cows which fell ill.
The district livestock officer, Nasir Khan, said they were not certain whether the cows died of anthrax as they were buried a day before.
‘We have made all the preparations for anthrax infection treatment. We have a huge quantity of vaccines at our disposal,’ he said.