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Anthrax Twelve-year-old child dies of anthrax
In the extreme north of Russia, according to media reports, an anthrax outbreak occurred for the first time in 75 years. A twelve-year-old boy died. Two years ago Germany had warned against eating sausages and corned beef, which were suspected of being contaminated with the highly toxic anthrax pathogen.
First anthrax outbreak for 75 years
According to media reports, an anthrax outbreak has been reported in northern Russia for the first time in 75 years. The authorities in Salekhard at the Arctic Circle reported that a twelve-year-old boy had died of the highly toxic anthrax pathogen and eight others in any case deceive him. According to the data, a total of 72 people with suspected anthrax were hospitalized, including 41 children. It is said that the whole region is quarantined.
For the first time in decades, an anthrax outbreak has occurred in northern Russia. A boy died. So far, only reindeer herders and their animals are affected. (Image: pisotckii / fotolia.com) Danger especially for animals
The pathogens of the infectious disease anthrax are bacteria that many associate with biological warfare. In man, anthrax infections are generally rare, but for crayfishes such as cattle and sheep, they represent a significant risk. In humans, a distinction is made between three different forms of anthrax: cutaneous anthrax, pulmonary anthrax and intestinal anthrax. The former bears the least risk for those affected, but it can also be deadly.
Transmission from person to person is considered unlikely
Pulmonary anthrax can develop when the anthrax spores enter the lungs and spread out. The death rate in this anthrax form is relatively high, often the infected die within a week of a septic shock. Consumption of contaminated beef may in rare cases also cause intestinal spasms associated with severe symptoms such as severe diarrhea, bloody stools or bloody vomiting. Here, too, threatened the victims in the further course of a blood poisoning with organ failure. The treatment of anthrax infection usually takes place with antibiotics. A human-to-human transmission is unlikely.
Deadly spores have long been preserved in permafrost
According to the authorities, until the outbreak in Russia only reindeer herders and their animals have been carriers of the anthrax pathogen. Thousands of reindeer have been killed. Moscow experts have started vaccinating more than 40,000 animals. The region was since 1941 as anthrax-free. Experts now believe that the unusually high temperatures that have prevailed for over a month have melted the permafrost, where deadly spores have been preserved for more than a century.
Deaths in Germany
It is said that a historic cemetery could be a source of infection. The indigenous people living there traditionally buried their dead in wooden coffins, which are not buried because of the permanently frozen soil. It was possible that thawing as a result of climate change caused pathogens of infected bodies to reach the drinking water and thus caused the infections. In Germany, the anthrax virus caused at least two deaths and three other infections four years ago. At that time, the pathogen was the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) according to the contaminated heroin presumably from Britain to Germany arrived. Such heroin was in the local drug scene since 2009 been in circulation. In addition, a danger from anthrax pathogens in beef had been pointed out in this country in 2014. (Ad)