First cholera, now anthrax. The last time Iraq registered the anthrax infection in Iraq was during the Iran-Iraq war in the '80s. Now the health minister of the autonomous Kurdish region is reporting 37 infected Iraqis.
Health Minister Ziryan Othman said the disease appeared to have been passed on from livestock. The first human case of the outbreak was discovered in remote Dahuk province last month.
None of the reported cases had yet proven fatal, he told Reuters. The 37 cases in humans have all affected the patients' skin, rather than their lungs or internal organs, as occurs in more serious anthrax cases.
Othman said the authorities have ordered that infected animals be slaughtered and buried, while animals not yet infected should be vaccinated.
"The health and agriculture ministries are trying to contain this disease, because if it is spread among animals and then is transferred to humans it will have a negative effect on the economy," he said.
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