MAKHACHKALA, October 14. /TASS/. Three people were taken to hospital in the village of Novokuli, Russia’s North Caucasian Republic of Dagestan, with suspected Siberian plague. The diagnosis has been confirmed in two cases, a spokesman for the republic’s health ministry told TASS on Monday.

"Three residents of the village of Novokuli were taken to hospital with suspected anthrax. By now, the diagnosis has been confirmed in two cases. The third patient is under medic’s supervision," the spokesman said, adding that two patients were hospitalized on October 12 and one - on October 13.

According to the spokesman, all the three are in condition of medium gravity. "Their lives are not in danger," he said.

Anthrax is a bacterial infection caused by the organism Bacillus anthracis. It can be found in grass-eating wild and domestic animals, such as cows and sheep, most often in the agricultural regions of Asia, Africa, South America and parts of Europe (southern and eastern). Diseased animals can spread anthrax to humans, either by direct contact (e.g., inoculation of infected blood to broken skin) or by consumption of a diseased animal's flesh. Anthrax does not spread directly from one infected animal or person to another; it is spread by spores. These spores can be transported by clothing or shoes. There are effective vaccines against anthrax, and some forms of the disease respond well to antibiotic treatment.