Anthrax Deaths: Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara

A spate of anthrax deaths has forced Indonesian authorities to seal off two villages and rush vaccines to the area.

Veterinary official Maria Geong says the emergency action affects about 2,000 villagers on Sumba island, where five people have died from eating infected beef in the past few weeks.

“We have sent 50,000 doses of (animal) vaccine to the area,” she said.

Anthrax could have infected local farm animals such as cows, goats and water buffalo, as well as warm-blooded wild animals, she said.

The disease is an acute infection that usually only afflicts livestock but it can be transmitted to humans who handle or eat affected animals.

Anthrax is endemic in Sumba island, East Nusa Tenggara province, 1,500 kilometres from the capital, Jakarta. Ms Geong says some 40 human deaths from anthrax have been recorded in the province since 1994, but not in the vicinity of the villages.