Two people died with symptoms similar to those of anthrax and over 200 other patients were showing similar symptoms in at least two unions of Pirgacha upazila in Rangpur in the past one month, triggering panic among local residents.
Local people said that the outbreak began about mid-August after some cattle had died in at least five villages under Parul and Pirgacha unions.
The livestock department聽 on August 31 confirmed anthrax in the cattle in the area and started mass vaccination on September 2, according to the Pirgacha upazila livestock office.
A team from the Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research reached the area on Saturday at least 13 days after the first death had occurred of a patient with anthrax-like symptoms in the last week of August, amid allegations of a delayed response.
The deceased two persons were identified as Abdur Razzak, 38, a farmer and seasonal rickshaw-van puller of Pirgacha sadar union, who died in the last week of August, and Kamala Begum, 48, a housewife of Parul union, who died on September 6.
Pirgacha union parishad chairman Mostafizur Rahman Reza said that Razzak might have contracted anthrax after slaughtering a sick cow.
He developed fever, boils and severe skin lesions and later died during treatment at Rangpur Community Hospital.
Kamala鈥檚 son Dulal Mia said that his mother was infected as she cooked meat from a sick cow.
Her condition deteriorated quickly and she died at Rangpur Medical College Hospital.
Pirgacha upazila health and family planning officer Mohammad Tanvir Hasnat Robin said that the upazila hospital did not have facilities for anthrax test.
He suspected the disease to be cutaneous anthrax, an infection not known to be highly fatal.
He also said that two to three patients with similar symptoms were seeking treatment at the hospital daily.
鈥楾he patients died due to comorbidity,鈥� he said, adding that only the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research could confirm the disease in the country.
IEDCR director Professor Tahmina Shirin said that a team reached the area on Saturday to collect samples for testing.
Local residents expressed frustration at the delayed response, saying that the institute took over a month to send a team despite the disease symptoms were known to be spreading in the area.
Upazila livestock officer in Pirgacha Ekramul Hoque Mondol said that they had collected 16 blood and tissue samples from five villages and found anthrax in five of them.
鈥榃e have already vaccinated 34,327 cattle and nine vaccination camps are now operating in the area,鈥� he said, adding that several cattle had died of the disease.
Locals, however, said that dozens of cattle had died with the symptoms but many of the cases went unreported.
Out of fear, many villagers started selling their cattle at throwaway prices, they said.
The livestock officer said that they had strengthened monitoring and holding an awareness campaign against eating meat of the infected cattle.
According to physicians, anthrax, a bacterial infection caused by Bacillus anthracis, spreads from animals to humans, not from human to human.
They advised villagers to avoid eating or handling meat from infected animals.
鈥楳y two siblings and I are also sick and undergoing treatment,鈥� said deceased Kamala鈥檚 son Dulal Mia, adding that they had little knowledge about the disease before.
Infected villagers said that symptoms began with rashes developing into large sores and then deep lesions.
Sabina Akhter, a resident of Anantarampur village, said that four of her cows and two goats developed high fever and died within two days late last month.
Disease control wing director Professor Md Farhad Hussain at the Directorate General of Health Services DGHS said that the patients showing symptoms were given symptomatic treatment of anthrax.
鈥楢fter confirm diagnosis we will start proper interventions,鈥� he said.
He also advised people to avoid contacts with sick cattle鈥檚 blood and flesh.
Anthrax is not always fatal, but it can be highly dangerous if the germ is inhaled or the infection is left untreated with the fatality rate of cutaneous anthrax reported at up to 20 per cent.
Bangladesh experienced its worst anthrax outbreak in decades in 2010, when 607 human cases were reported in 11 districts, mostly in Pabna, Sirajganj, Tangail and adjacent areas.
Two of the patients reportedly died at the time.
