MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. Anthrax has not been confirmed in two patients in the Moscow region, the Russian sanitary watchdog said on Friday.

"No anthrax agents have been found after laboratory analysis of blood samples taken from the two patients taken to hospitals in the Moscow region with suspected anthrax," it said, adding that these patients arrived in the Moscow region from the Republic of Chuvashia where two anthrax cases had been reported.

According to the watchdog, the situation is under control.

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.