August 29, 2012

Russian veterinaries discover meat from anthrax-hit region

About 287 cows in a meat processing plant in the constituent republic of Altai have been detected by the Russian veterinary authorities to come from the anthrax-hit Altai Region.

"We found out that 287 of the cattle were transported for slaughter to one of the meat processing plants in the constituent republic of Altai from an infected district before an outbreak of anthrax was detected in the region. We examined the animals and we saw no abnormalities. Still, we moved the meat to a separate cell to take samples for an investigation," Yevgeny Savchenko, a representative of the republican veterinarian committee said Tuesday (Aug 28).

Anthrax was detected in the Altai Region's Tselinny District on August 25 when three people were hospitalised with signs of the disease. According to the latest data provided by the Emergency Situations Ministry, 10 people have since been hospitalised, with two of the cases having been confirmed as anthrax. One person has died.