ANTHRAX has been detected in Gaibandha after Rangpur, which has rung an alarm among public health and livestock officials. What began as an isolated infection at Pirgachha in Rangpur has spread to neighbouring districts, showing systemic gaps in rural health care and a persistent neglect of zoonotic disease surveillance in Bangladesh鈥檚 north.
Several people of Pirgachha began showing symptoms resembling anthrax in late September: blisters, swelling and dark lesions. Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research laboratory tests have later confirmed that multiple samples were positive for Bacillus anthracis, marking a recorded anthrax detection in Rangpur. Within days, people at Mithapukur, Kaunia and, finallty, at Sundarganj in Gaibandha started showing similar symptoms.
The disease, typically transmitted from infected cattle, goats and buffaloes, has so far infected dozens of people in Rangpur and Gaibandha. At least one death, a woman at Sundarganj in Gaibandha was initially linked to the infection although later reports suggested that she had died of another underlying illness. Even so, the panic that her case caused reflects a deep public mistrust in healthcare institutions in rural areas.
Anthrax is caused by Bacillus anthracis, a rod-shaped bacterium capable of surviving in soil for decades. When grazing animals ingest contaminated soil, they become infected. Humans, in turn, contract the disease through direct contact with contaminated meat, blood, hides or bones.
Despite being one of the oldest known zoonotic infections, anthrax continues to resurface in Bangladesh almist every year, often after prolonged monsoon rains that leave grazing fields stagnated with water and unhygienic. The northern districts of Meherpur, Sirajganj, Natore and Kushtia have historically been the most affected, but new cases in Rangpur and Gaibandha indicate a possible geographic shift in the spread of the disease.
According to health experts, this shift demands an urgent investigation. They argue that the expansion of cattle trade, lack of regulated slaughtering practices and unsafe disposal of animal carcasses facilitate the spread of the bacterium to previously unaffected areas.
Human stories behind the spread of anthrax show an alarming lack of preparedness. Many patients in Sundarganj and Pirgachha report having been turned away from local health complexes or having been treated at home with little supervision. In one case, a woman showing anthrax symptoms was admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital, but she reportedly received no care, as nurses and junior physicians hesitated to approach her. She died hours later, leaving her family to allege negligence and corruption.
Such incidents point to two deep-rooted problems: inadequate training of rural medical staff in handling infectious diseases and a culture of fear surrounding anthrax that dates back to the 2010 outbreak in Sirajganj. Then, as now, misinformation and panic spread faster than the infection.
The detection of the anthrax has also shaken the rural livestock economy. In many villages in Gaibandha and Rangpur, meat sales have plummeted and slaughtering has almost stopped. Farmers have reported mass vaccination drives, but some say the response was delayed late and without adequate communication. In Kishamat Sadar of Sundarganj, villagers claim that no veterinary team has visited them even days after anthrax was confirmed.
Local livestock officers, however, maintain that vaccination and awareness efforts are ongoing. More than 150,000 cattle across Rangpur and neighbouring districts have reportedly been vaccinated. Courtyard meetings, announcement on the public address sytem and the distribution of leaflets are used to educate farmers in the risks of the disease. Yet, the gap between official claims and public experience underscores a recurring problem: a centralised response mechanism often fail to reach the grassroots in time.
Bangladesh has seen anthrax infection before. In mid-2010, Belkuchi and Kamarkhanda in Sirajganj faced a devastating episode that spread rapidly to other districts, infecting both humans and animals. That infection crippled livestock farming, slashed meat consumption and caused temporary shutdowns of leather and bone-meal industries. The panic was as damaging as the pathogen.
Fifteen years later, it seems that little has changed. Despite clear lessons, preventive education and sustained vaccination remain sporadic. Rural butchers and smallholders often lack basic knowledge about anthrax symptoms and contaminated meat sometimes enters local markets before any inspection.
Health authorities, including the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research and the Directorate General of Health Services, have now intensified surveillance in Rangpur, Gaibandha and Kurigram. The livestocks department has increased vaccinations in border upazilas such as Rajarhat, Ulipur and Chilmari. Officials stress that anthrax is fully treatable in humans and the fatality rate is very low if diagnosed early.
But containment requires more than treatment. It demands trust. Villagers must be educated that anthrax is not contagious between humans, eating infected meat is the primary risk and prompt medical care ensures recovery. Transparent communication, local veterinary monitoring and strict bans on slaughtering animals that are sick are crucial to rebuilding confidence.
Anthrax may not be new to Bangladesh, but every detection exposes how fragile the public health system remains at the crossing of human, animal and environmental health. What is needed is not only a medical response but a sustained, community-based approach that links veterinary surveillance, public education and local governance.
If the lessons go unheeded yet again, anthrax will not only be an animal disease. It will remain a symptom of the chronic negligence that plagues rural health care and agricultural policy.
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Nafew Sajed ([email protected]) Joy is a writer and researcher.
