Anthrax infection kills 4 carabaos in Cagayan – DA

Cagayan province map

TUGUEGARAO CITY—Four carabaos (water buffalos) died due to cutaneous anthrax infection, while 73 people were isolated due to exposure to the infected animals in Santo Niño town, Cagayan province, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Friday.

Dr. Manuel Galang, veterinarian III of the DA-Cagayan Valley, said they began the mass vaccination of cattle following the anthrax infection and no new cases of the disease were reported.

“In the meantime, we are doing an information drive, especially in villages, to prevent the spread of the disease,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Galang said the anthrax disease is prevalent among grazing animals, such as carabaos, cows, goats and sheep.

Also vulnerable to the disease are horses, hogs, dogs, cats and wild herbivores.

Unsafe handling

Cutaneous anthrax commonly occurs due to unsafe handling of dead animals, which allows resilient anthrax spores to cause notable skin lesions via minor cuts in the exposed body surface, according to the Department of Health.

“This is a dangerous disease as the anthrax bacteria were formed from a spore named Bacillus anthracis,” Galang said.

Humans usually acquire the disease directly or indirectly from infected animals, or through occupational exposure to infected or contaminated animal products, according to the World Health Organization.

A multisectoral disease surveillance task force in the region has previously reported that it was on Nov. 23 when the four infected carabaos started showing symptoms of the disease, such as loss of appetite, seizures, immobility and hematuria, or the presence of blood in the urine.

Contaminated meat

On Dec. 16, test results revealed that the animals were infected with anthrax, with two of them dying instantly and the other two being butchered by their owners in Amulung town and the meat being sold in the local market.

Authorities believed the contaminated meat had reached other areas in Cagayan, including Barangay Calassitan in Sto. Niño town, where 73 people were exposed to the disease, with 22 of them displaying cutaneous lesions or skin diseases and were immediately isolated.

Galang said the anthrax virus may infect people due to cutaneous contact, indigestion and inhalation, which results in skin rashes, sores, headaches, fever, body aches, sore throats, inflammation of glands, stomachaches and diarrhea.

The dead and anthrax-infected cattle must be buried in a deep earth hole or burned, he added.

—VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.