11 more get anthrax
Eleven more people have been infected with anthrax in Sirajganj and Pabna, health officials confirmed yesterday.
In Sirajganj, Marium, 10, Asadul Islam, 25, and Rabbi Hossain, 26, of Mohonpur Satbila village in Ullapara were diagnosed with the infection on Monday while Ayesha, 60, of Mohonpur Satbila village and Rimu, 4, and Bayezid, 7, of Sharatoil village in Shahjadpur were diagnosed Tuesday.
The six are suspected of having contracted the infection after locals slaughtered a sick cow a few days ago and distributed its meat among villagers, Ram Chandra Saha, sanitary officer of Sirajganj Civil Surgeon office said.
He said a three-member team of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) led by Dr Apurba Chakraborty has visited the villages and collected skin and blood samples from the infected.
A total of 39 people in Shahjadpur and Ullapara upazilas have come down with the infection since Friday.
In Pabna, three children, an aged man and a woman were found to have got anthrax at Raut village in Faridpur upazila on Tuesday. They are Maruf, 11, Al Amin, 8, Happy Akhtar, 15, Shahid Ali, 65, and Asma Akter, 42.
Of them, Shahid Ali was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital last night. Health official told our Pabna correspondent that the villagers were also infected after processing meat after a sick cow was slaughtered.
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