Govt declares Nandol anthrax-hit but villagers unperturbed

The outbreak was first noticed in the last week of May after a number of cattle belonging to local farmer Govind Bharwad started dying. On May 30,veterinarians from the Animal Husbandry Department conducted a test on four carcasses. They confirmed anthrax.

The state government has declared Nandol as an anthrax-hit zone,and teams of veterinarians and para-veterinarians have been sent to vaccinate all livestock. By Thursday,some 1,700 animals— goats,horses,sheep and cattle— were vaccinated.

But without enough vets,the authorities have now deployed a bunch of allopathic doctors as well,to help vaccinate the village cattle.

Yet even basic precautions are being given the short shrift. Carcasses of 23 heads of cattle owned by Bharwad,which have so far died of anthrax over the last one week here,were casually buried in a single pit instead of being cremated. This was despite veterinarians saying that burial will not kill anthrax spores. Bharwad says that he buried the carcasses in the presence of medical personnel and no one said he should cremate them.

“Anthrax spores may survive in the soil for more than 40 years,and it may spread to humans from there too,” warned Dr K D Trivedi,Veterinary officer at Dehgam taluka,under which the village falls.

But Trivedi conceded that his own staff were present at the burial. “A pit was dug and the carcasses were buried in it,” he said Significantly,this is though veterinarians in the area contend that the anthrax outbreak was not likely to have been from migrating livestock,but from dug-up soil that may have contained the spores.

Animal husbandry officials in protective clothing were busy vaccinating livestock in the area on Thursday. Dr Leena Goswami,an ayush medical officer from the Sanoda PHC said that although a large number of animals had showed possible symptoms of the disease,tests proved negative. Anthrax is a known Zootonic blight,and easily fatal. But Dr Jayesh Shah,medical officer at Sanoda PHC,bordering Nandol,assures there has been no case of human infection so far. Nine villagers who were thought to have consumed milk from affected animals tested negative for the disease,he said. This is not the first time anthrax has struck in a Gujarat village. Last June,a cow died of the disease in Bhavnagar and the area was declared anthrax-hit.

Over a thousand animals were given the preventive vaccine there. In Nandol,however,there is a dispute over the actual death count — Bharwad says 40,the authorities say only 23.

“The vaccination drive is going on in an entire 5-kilometre wide area. We will be closely monitoring the entire area for the next three months. We have had no cases of human infection so far,but are stationing medical teams in the village to keep a close watch,” Gandhinagar District Collector Sanjeev Kumar said.

What is Anthrax?
It is a deadly disease found in cattle,sheep and goats and can be transmitted to humans in three ways — by consumption of infected animal produce,through broken skin or by inhalation. Unless detected early,it can kill. It has also been used in biological warfare. Anthrax spores — cells formed by the bacillus anthracis bacteria — are highly resilient and can survive all types of weather conditions. Their lifespan can vary from a few decades to beyond a century. The most effective ways to kill these spores are by boiling water,burning or through medical intervention such as vaccines. Isolation or quarantine is employed to stop the spread of the disease. Burying infected carcasses does not kill anthrax spores.