KARACHI, Oct 18: The Sindh health department has claimed that there is no spread of anthrax in any part of the province.

According to a health department spokesman, it is quite difficult for anthrax to make its appearance in case meat of a sick animal is eaten. In the recent past no such case had been reported whereby meat of sick animal might have caused this disease, he said.

More commonly this disease is found in people who handle animal meat such as butchers and meat sellers.

The spokesman further said the Sindh health and food departments were in contact with each other, and there was no cause for alarm.

No suspected or documented case of an anthrax illness has so far been reported to Aga Khan Hospital so far.

“We have not received any such case so far,” said Talat Tayyabji of Aga Khan University Hospital, adding that the hospital did receive on Thursday afternoon some substance in the shape of powder which was being investigated by its lab to determine whether it was positive or otherwise anthrax organisms.

She said it would take 48 hours to one week for the lab to identify the substance, adding that the receipt of the powder did not necessarily suggest anything at this stage.

She declined to identify the person who had received this powder before it was referred to the hospital’s lab for testing.

The AKUH said it had received numerous calls from the public inquiring about anthrax, adding that “to date no known case of anthrax has been received by the AKUH.”

The hospital said Anthrax is a zoonotic (animal) disease endemic in many rural regions of the world. It is an acute bacterial zoonosis predominantly of herbivorous animals, eg, cattle, sheep, horses, and goats.

It is caused by Bacillus anthracis and may be transmitted by inoculation, inhalation, or ingestion. There is no evidence of direct human-to-human transmission.

The AKUH said the disease could be prevented after exposure to anthrax spores by early treatment with appropriate antibiotics. In humans the vast majority of cases involve the skin, and very rarely were the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts were affected. The incubation period is 1-7 days; most cases occurred within 2-5 days of exposure. Disease manifestations were similar in adults and children.

In inhalation anthrax two stages of disease occur: mild upper respiratory symptoms occur initially followed by severe shortness of breath, lack of oxygen to the tissues, eg, blue nails, increased respiratory and heart rate, sweating, fever and wheezing.

For patients hospitalized with anthrax, standard isolation precautions are recommended. Contaminated dressings and bedclothes should be incinerated or sterilized to destroy spores. For persons believed to be exposed to an aerosol of anthrax, preventive measures should include chemorophylaxis with clprofloxacin for at least four weeks.

Tetracycline or penicillin should be used for those in whom fluoroquinolones are contraindicated unless resistance is suspected.