GORNO-ALTAISK, August 28 (Itar-Tass) — Meat from Altai region’s Tselinny district, where anthrax cases have been fixed in the settlement of Druzhba, has been found during veterinary checks at Altai’s Souzginsky meat-processing factory.
It has been established that over 200 animals from the infected area were culled there on August 24. Meat samples have been taken for lab tests, while the meat itself was put in special coolers and placed under seals.
It will not leave the factory before the results of lab tests are made public, sources from the republican veterinary committee told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. They said the animals showed no signs of the disease before being culled. However, as the Altai region is an “endangered zone” it was decided to thoroughly check meat from the Teslinny district, although the cattle was not from Druzhba.
Meanwhile measures are taken to prevent meat, live cattle, milk and fodder from leaving the infected area. Disinfection posts have been put at the entrance to the districts bordering on the Tselinny district. Control over culled cattle has been intensified. No quarantine measures have been imposed in the republic as of yet.
Meanwhile, laboratory tests have confirmed a resident from the village of Marushka, which is located near the village of Druzhba, is ill with anthrax, an Altai regional administration official told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
A total of 13 people remain under the care of doctors. Out of the six cases preliminary diagnosed as anthrax, three were confirmed by laboratory tests, including the case of the man from Druzhba who died. The other three patients have no final diagnoses yet. Specialists monitor the state of the other eight people who had direct contacts with the ill people. The patients' condition is not life-threatening. They receive appropriate medical treatment, Vice-Governor Daniil Bassarabov said.
Quarantine is imposed in Druzhba and Marushka. Epidemic prevention measures are taken there.