Authorities in Bushenyi district have confirmed the outbreak of anthrax disease in the district after it claimed one person last week. Dr Roberts Natukunda, the Bushenyi district Veterinary Officer says that samples which were picked from five people who were suspected of eating a dead cow and taken to Entebbe last week have turned up positive. The deceased and the other positive cases are residents of Kitagata in Kyeizooba Sub-county.
Natukunda says people have started developing symptoms similar to anthrax following the death of one person amidst a protest of residents accusing others of bewitching them. He asked people to seek medical treatment instead of saying they are being bewitched. Victor Bakikunde, the chairman of the LC3 for Kyeizooba Sub-county, says that before the case was confirmed as anthrax, there were suspicions within the community that the illness was a result of witchcraft.
Bakikunde says since it has been confirmed, calm has returned to the villages and others are now seeking medical attention. Natukunda says that they are planning a quarantine, but have ordered for vaccines from the government to administer to all the animals to curb the spread of the disease. Anthrax is a serious infectious disease caused by gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria known as Bacillus anthracis.
Anthrax can be found naturally in soil and commonly affects both domestic and wild animals. It presents with skin sores and vomiting in humans. ***** URN.
