Odisha: 4 tribals die after consuming flesh of cow dead by anthrax

Four tribals died and another 10 were taken ill within a week in Odisha’s Rayagada district after allegedly consuming the flesh of a cow affected by anthrax, officials said on Monday.

Four tribals died and another 10 were taken ill within a week in Odisha’s Rayagada district after allegedly consuming the flesh of a cow affected by anthrax, officials said on Monday.

(HT file photo)

The people of Jambuguda village of Bhubaneswar district had consumed the flesh of the dead cow about a fortnight back. As four tribals died one after another and others complaint of illness, a team of doctors from the community health centre at Kashipur rushed to the village to treat them.

“The four have been died after taking the flesh of the cow affected by anthrax. We found three more persons to be affected by anthrax after consuming the flesh and admitted them in the district headquarter hospital on Monday,” SB Padhi, the doctor in charge of the CHC said.

Anthrax is a disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis mostly affecting animals. Some forms of the disease are fatal. When human consume the flesh of the animal affected by the disease, they get affected by it.