Health experts put emphasis on vaccinating all the cattle in the pre-monsoon season to check the spread of anthrax in the country.
Mahmudur Rahman, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, told New Age on Thursday, 'The vaccination of cattle should be completed before monsoon to check the spread of anthrax in the country.'
He said that vaccination may not be 100 per cent effective, but there is no alternative to it.
Generally anthrax spreads in the monsoon season, he added.
Three people were clinically detected with anthrax infection by the doctors of the upazila health department in Shathia upazila of Pabna district last Friday. They were infected by the meat of a diseased goat at Chinanari village of Sathia upazila.
Experts said drought may cause livestock to forage much closer to the ground and heavy rain rains increases the concentration of spores in standing water.
Nazrul Islam, former vice-chancellor of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, said that anthrax can form dormant spores that live in the soil and can survive in harsh conditions for decades or even centuries.
Anthrax commonly infects wild and domesticated herbivorous mammals or cattle which ingest or inhale the spores while grazing, he said.
'Generally in monsoon, new grass grows in the anthrax-infected area where the spores already existed and the cattle get infected after eating the fresh grass,' Islam said. 'An infected cow dies in a very short period.'
'There is no alternative to mass vaccination to check the spread of anthrax,' he pointed out.
Experts said that generally it takes 21 days to immunize the cattle after vaccination. The vaccine is effective for one year only, they added.
M Aminur Rahman, a director of the livestock department, claimed that they had completed the vaccination programme by March and April this year.
'The vaccination programme was conducted in Pabna on a priority basis. All the cattle have been vaccinated,' he claimed. 'The programme also covered some cattle outside the district.'
Mushtak Hossain, senior scientific officer of the IEDCR, said that the cattle infected recently were vaccinated only a week before. 'It takes time to grow immunity and this goat (the one in Sathia) was slaughtered and eaten before the required period was completed.'
The World Health Organisation has said that it is dangerous to eat cattle or goats which have been vaccinated less than 21 days before.
The anthrax spores which have been administered into the cattle's body through the vaccine remain alive for 21 days, so they can be a source of infection if the cattle are eaten before three weeks have elapsed.
Anthrax broke out in many places in August last year, according to the IEDCR, and a total of 607 people were infected in 18 upazilas.
Health experts emphasised the need for regular vaccination of the cattle along with proper monitoring and surveillance to prevent further outbreaks of anthrax in the country.
They also urged the government to investigate and find out the real cause of the recent outbreak.
Source: New Age
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