site.btaAround 600 Animals in Mlada Gvardia Village to Be Vaccinated against Anthrax

Around 600 Animals in Mlada Gvardia Village to Be Vaccinated against Anthrax

Mlada Gvardia Village, Varna Region, July 20 (BTA) - Around 600 animals from the Mlada Gvardia Village will be administered an attenuated vaccine against anthrax, said Damyan Iliev, Director of the Food Safety Agency on Monday.

A man died in a Varna (on the Black Sea) hospital a few days ago from an anthrax infection, the director of the National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases confirmed on Saturday. The man was infected while processing the meat of an infected cow or eating it undercooked. According to the Health Inspectorate, the cow was slaughtered on July 7 in the village of Mlada Gvardiya, after it got sick. An anthrax focus was reported in the village.

Iliev said further that sheep, goats, cattle and donkeys are subject to vaccination. The attenuated vaccine will create immunity within a week. The vaccination will begin late Monday afternoon and is expected to be completed Tuesday morning.

Mostly the disease has been caused by the heavy rainfalls in June, said Iliev. The torrential rain has washed away the upper layer of the soil unearthing strains of anthrax which can survive in subsoil conditions for up to 70 years.

In the next days the animals in the village will remain indoors. The Civil Protection service will deliver water to the farmers who do not have any. The owners must dispose of the animals' milk until the quarantine is lifted. Iliev could not say whether the veterinarian undertook adequate actions in this situation. In his view both he and the owner of the cow had made mistakes.

Iliev confirmed the death of a second cow in Mlada Gvardia but the cause of death has not been established yet.

In Varna, Iliev took part in a meeting of the crisis centre called by Regional Governor Stoyan Passev. Prior to the meeting, Deputy Health Minister Vanyo Sharkov said that the people who ate meat of the infected cow are in good health.