Editorial
The anthrax issue
Urgency to tackle its effects on public health and economy
Eighteen new cases of anthrax have come to light in Lalmonirhat district. Reports of an incidence of anthrax in Lakshmipur have also been there. As far as we are aware, no fewer than 520 people all over the country have in the past couple of months been affected by the disease and, we are informed, half of them have already been provided with treatment. There may be a bit of hope here and we might tell ourselves that the disease, contracted through eating meat, especially beef, will soon go away. And yet new reports such as the one from Lalmonirhat raise the very pertinent question of how effective the measures so far taken to combat the problem are. Our conclusion is that a whole lot more, in terms of prioritising the issue, is called for. If one individual is cured of anthrax and then two fresh cases crop up, it is a sign of the huge difficulties we are confronted with.
Meanwhile, there is the economic fallout of anthrax that one cannot lose sight of. For rather valid reasons, people have scaled down their consumption of beef, with the result that sales of the commodity have slumped considerably. While that means a loss for traders, it also points to something bigger. And it concerns our tannery industry, which with the outbreak of anthrax has had to cope with declining revenues because of the slide in supplies of hides and skins. One hardly need remind oneself that among the industries which have made good and encouraging progress in Bangladesh in the last three decades is the tannery sector, both in terms of internal supply and exports to nations beyond our frontiers. It is, therefore, in everyone's interest to ensure that the decline that now characterises the sector be rolled back. But for that to be done, swift and effective measures are an absolute necessity. Let us not forget that it is not merely the major tannery factories located in urban regions that have been bearing the brunt of anthrax. There are too the small traders in hides and skins at the local level whose economic conditions have deteriorated as a result of the outbreak of the disease. Add to that the woes of cattle traders whose inability to sell their animals has brought new economic pressure on their families.
Our options are clear. While we expect medical measures to be stepped up towards treating those who have already been infected with anthrax, we do think that the health authorities, especially in the veterinary sector, have to come up with hard, foolproof measures to ensure the health of cattle all over the country. Treating anthrax patients without at the same time looking to the conditions of cattle can only be a half step and a costly one at that. Unless the entire issue is handled with a sense of urgency, both the health of people and the wellbeing of an important sector of the national economy will remain at risk.
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