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Authorities calm anthrax concerns
By Cai Wenjun |
August 17, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SHANGHAI hasn't detected any cases of anthrax, a contagious disease that infects both livestock and humans, after people in Jiangsu and Liaoning provinces were diagnosed with the potentially fatal illness in the past two weeks, officials from the Shanghai Health Bureau said yesterday.
The city's agricultural authority said it has enhanced supervision of livestock farms and the industrial and commercial administrative bureau is closely following livestock from other provinces and beef in the market.
On August 3, two people in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, were confirmed to have anthrax and another five were suspected of having the disease after they butchered a sick cow together.
On Monday, seven people in Liaoning were confirmed with anthrax.
All the cases are skin anthrax, the most common type of infection due to contact with either contaminated animals, meat or fur.
"All the patients and suspected patients have been separated and are undergoing treatment. So far, no one has died," Dun Haihua, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health said on Monday. "The health authority is closely working with agriculture departments to trace the sources of sick cows."
A person surnamed Wang, who transported a sick cow to Lianyungang, was caught by police for questioning.
The health authority said skin anthrax is controllable and preventable.
They added people that should only buy beef from official channels and that it needs to be cooked completely.
However, the anthrax cases have caused fear among the public after a false rumor was spread on microblog sites. The rumor claimed anthrax had spread to Suzhou City in Jiangsu and warned people not to buy beef from local supermarkets as 570 cows with the disease had been imported to the city.
Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the rumor was completely false. It said they didn't find any sick cows in the city and the only cases in the province were the ones reported in Lianyungang.
Shanghai health officials also reassured residents about the safety of eating beef.
"There are no infected animals or people so far in the city and we have tightened supervision," said Song Guofan from the Shanghai Health Bureau.
The city's agricultural authority said it has enhanced supervision of livestock farms and the industrial and commercial administrative bureau is closely following livestock from other provinces and beef in the market.
On August 3, two people in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, were confirmed to have anthrax and another five were suspected of having the disease after they butchered a sick cow together.
On Monday, seven people in Liaoning were confirmed with anthrax.
All the cases are skin anthrax, the most common type of infection due to contact with either contaminated animals, meat or fur.
"All the patients and suspected patients have been separated and are undergoing treatment. So far, no one has died," Dun Haihua, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health said on Monday. "The health authority is closely working with agriculture departments to trace the sources of sick cows."
A person surnamed Wang, who transported a sick cow to Lianyungang, was caught by police for questioning.
The health authority said skin anthrax is controllable and preventable.
They added people that should only buy beef from official channels and that it needs to be cooked completely.
However, the anthrax cases have caused fear among the public after a false rumor was spread on microblog sites. The rumor claimed anthrax had spread to Suzhou City in Jiangsu and warned people not to buy beef from local supermarkets as 570 cows with the disease had been imported to the city.
Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention officials said the rumor was completely false. It said they didn't find any sick cows in the city and the only cases in the province were the ones reported in Lianyungang.
Shanghai health officials also reassured residents about the safety of eating beef.
"There are no infected animals or people so far in the city and we have tightened supervision," said Song Guofan from the Shanghai Health Bureau.
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