Anthrax- Research is On

Anthrax , the dreaded disease that has killed hundreds of common men in the rural areas of Koraput district in the past and already four persons only in Semiliguda block this year , could be an airborne disease and there were chances that people working in the field get the infection directly even with out consuming the infected meat , S.K.Takri , CDVO , Koraput said today while quoting highlights from his conversation with the researchers from Animal Disease Research Institute (ADRI) , Phulnakhra .

The disease which was once confined to Dasmantpur , Laxmipur and Narayanpatna blocks of the district and affecting only the people who had consumed meat of the affected animals , was now spreading even to the areas and people who had not taken the meat , Dr.Takri said . Many people in the villages had reported that they were affected even though they had never consumed meat of the affected cattle , he added .


Frequent incidence of the disease in some parts of the district has attracted many research teams to the district from time to time . Researchers from ADRI had visited the affected areas of the district in September last following the reports of deaths due to the disease which had caused a great amount of concern in the state . Now , after the deaths of four persons recently in Lohaba in Semiliguda block of the district , yet another team of specialists under the chairmanship of Dr.N.C.Panda from National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) , New Delhi had made their attempts to find reasons of the spreading of the disease .


Another research team under the chairmanship of U.V.Rana , a micro biologist from NICD is visiting the district and more specifically to the recently affected village , Luhaba in Semiliguda block on Monday . This could throw fresh insight into the disease and the reasons of its spread in the district , he hoped .
(EOM)