Minister assures over anthrax risks

ISTANBUL

One facility in Istanbul’s Silivri district has been quarantined after six people were admitted to a hospital over suspicions they were infected with anthrax, following similar cases in Ankara and the eastern province of Sivas during the “Feast of Sacrifice.” 

“Some 48 people, who were contacted with an animal suspected to be infected by anthrax, were asked to go to hospitals for medical examinations and tests. After necessary inspections, only six people were inspected to develop skin lesions [related to anthrax infection],” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a written statement on Sept. 2. 

The statement came after scores of citizens went to the Bakırköy Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul on Sept. 1 over suspicion of anthrax infection, alarming local authorities. 

Following the inspections, the Balaban and Şancaktepe neighborhoods of Silivri district were quarantined and 3,500 animals were vaccinated as precaution, the Forestry and Agriculture Ministry said. 

The ministries ensured that the districts are put under quarantine and six people that were suspected to be infected are discharged from hospital after necessary treatments. 

Silivri is the third place in Turkey to be alarmed by anthrax suspicion, with similar infection cases in Ankara and the eastern province of Sivas during the Feast of Sacrifice. 

On Aug. 28, authorities detected that 4,000 cattle imported from Brazil to Turkey’s Meat and Milk Institution ahead of the Eid al-Adha were infected with anthrax. 

It was after several animals in a farm facility in Gölbaşı district of Ankara died, teams from Gölbaşı’s Agriculture and Forestry discovered traces of anthrax. 

Following the findings, 60 animals from the herd were killed and the farm was placed under quarantine. 

Animal sales were stopped in neighborhoods at three kilometers range of proximity to the farm and veterinarians from the Forestry and Agriculture Ministry vaccinated 10,000 cattle against anthrax in the neighborhoods near the affected farm. 

The ministry said that as per a regulation, all animals imported to the country are quarantined at a specific site and tests are run on those animals for 21 days to make sure they do not have any diseases before they are allowed to be sold.

The Meat and Milk Institution has assured the public that meat produced at the infected farm or from affected animals are not being sold. 

Following the case in Ankara, a family in Sivas was hospitalized over anthrax infection after they reported they ate their infected animal. 

“After the sudden death of our animal, we butchered it without knowing the cause of its death. After three days, the symptoms emerged. We went to the city’s university hospital where we were diagnosed with anthrax. My 20-year-old son is still in hospital; my daughter and I were discharged after treatment,” a local of Sivas’ Gürün neighborhood told Demirören News Agency. 

The infected animal was buried under the inspection of local authorities.