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Namibia: Suspected Anthrax kills five farm-workers - Tests confirm only one fatality, others suspected due to alcohol poisoning
Namibia: Suspected Anthrax kills five farm-workers - Tests confirm only one fatality, others suspected due to alcohol poisoning
healthmap
Anthrax kills three farm-workers
27 Mar 2012
GOBABIS - Three workers from Farm Kroonster 448 in the Omaheke Region died in the Gobabis State Hospital last week from an illness related to anthrax.
It is suspected that five farm workers of Farm Kroonster contracted anthrax after they ate meat of a cow that died on its own at that farm.
Two out of the five are still being treated at the Gobabis State Hospital for an illness related to anthrax, said a nurse on duty at the hospital on condition of anonymity on Monday.
Namibia: Mystery Disease Kills Five in Omaheke
BY DENVER KISTING, 28 MARCH 2012
Comment
FIVE people have died in the Omaheke Region from what is believed to be either anthrax or Congo fever.
Initial laboratory tests were inconclusive and more samples were sent for testing in South Africa.
Dr Jack Vries, chairperson of the National Health Emergency Management Committee, says the results of the latest tests are expected back by the end of this week. "We don't know whether it's anthrax or not."
Should it be anthrax, it is atypical because the victims had intestinal symptoms like diarrhoea and vomiting. This is not typical of anthrax, Vries said.
It is understood that two people died at the Kroonster dairy farm and three at the farm Wonderboom.
...
Health services await test results from SA Anthrax report causes scare in Omaheke 28 Mar 2012 - Story by Magreth Nunuhe
WINDHOEK - The Omaheke Regional Health Director, Puumue Katjiuanjo, said news reports that three people died from anthrax and that two more were being treated at the Gobabis State Hospital were causing an unnecessary scare and nervousness in the region.
Katjiuanjo said the Nampa journalist who first reported the story was unprofessional in his conduct and should have sought out the real facts instead of resorting to “sensationalism”.
“That reporter never came to me. Why would we deny information that is so vital,” asked the regional health director who observed that such a report could tarnish the country’s image and harm the economy, especially if reported by someone who is not hundred percent sure of the facts.
He said South Africa could stop buying milk or cattle from Namibia based on such non-factual reporting.
An article in yesterday’s New Era titled “Anthrax kills three farm workers” and carried by another daily claimed that three workers from
Farm Kroonster 448 died in the Gobabis State Hospital last week from an illness related to anthrax after they ate meat from a cow that died on the farm.
Katjiuanjo said only two women died some three weeks ago and also denied claims that two more were being treated at the hospital for similar symptoms.
He said that the two women, who came a day apart, were vomiting and complained of headaches before they died.
“We confirmed with the Matron at the hospital and they said they have not come across anybody else with such symptoms.”
He also said that after the women died, a team of health experts visited Farm Kroonster to find out what could have caused their deaths and collected blood samples from those who died; those who slaughtered the cow; the meat of the cow suspected of contamination, some pork meat and samples of the potent traditional brew - tombo.
He said that results for the men who slaughtered the cow came out negative, but more results are expected from South Africa.
Katjiuanjo said that in the meantime all necessary precautionary measures have been put in place, while waiting for test results which will determine conclusively whether the deaths were caused by anthrax or some other disease.
-------------------
[Comparing the three articles, including the snipped off parts, reveals a very inconsistent situation. In addition to not knowing the cause of death, the articles are inconsistent on how many and who have died, and whether any others are ill. Some of the articles suggest that these 3-5 fatalities may be the most severe out of hundreds of cases due to something like E. coli, whereas another article suggests an illness with nearly a 100% CFR. This is not the first such report out of Namibia; we had a very similar situation http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?p=424044 last year that was determined to be due to unconnected causes. -alert]
Anthrax kills 3 farm-workers
--------------------------------
A total of 3 workers from Farm Kroonster 448 in the Omaheke Region died in the Gobabis State Hospital last week from an illness related to anthrax. It is suspected that 5 farm workers of Farm Kroonster contracted anthrax after they ate meat of a cow that died on its own at that farm. Two out of the 5 are still being treated at the Gobabis State Hospital for an illness related to anthrax, said a nurse on duty at the hospital on condition of anonymity on Monday [26 Mar 2012]. The registered nurse said the 2 farm workers who are still admitted are in a critical condition and all movements from that ward are restricted. "You can confirm this with the hospital matron. Even the remains of the deceased 3 farm workers are still being kept here in our mortuary for further laboratory investigations," she explained.
Approached for comment this morning, Omaheke Regional Health Director Puumue Katjiuanjo refused to talk to this reporter. He simply commanded his 2 secretaries to close his office doors, and said he did not want to see or talk "to this Nampa journalist."
Meanwhile, Omaheke Chief Animal Health Technician George Ruhumba of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry's Veterinary Services' Directorate, told Nampa [New Era reporter] today that business at Farm Kroonster is under restrictions for 21 days. Ruhumba said the Omaheke Veterinary Services had acted upon a request of the Ministry of Health and Social Services here to ban all livestock products entering or exiting that farm. He said there is a suspected case of anthrax at Farm Kroonster, a commercial farm, situated close to 100 kilometres east of Gobabis in the Omaheke Region [which puts it close to the Botswana border. - Mod.MHJ]. Ruhumba said although Omaheke's Veterinary Services had conducted its own tests on 19 livestock and all tested negative, restriction orders were still active [Presumably these 19 animals were the unaffected animals in the herd. - Mod.MHJ].
Ruhumba, who was at the farm to investigate the case, said some farm workers there started to complain of stomach pains after they ate the meat of a cow that died early this month. "3 died after 2 days, and 2 more were admitted into the Gobabis State Hospital," he told Nampa [the news reporter] in an interview this morning at his office.
The acting Chief Veterinarian for Omaheke, Hardap and Karas Regions, Dr Emmanuel Hikufe, on 19 Mar 2012 wrote a letter to the owner of the farm. The letter from Hikufe, that is in possession of this reporter, states, "according to the Gobabis State Hospital, the samples which were taken from the 4 people at your farm, (show) the 4 were exposed to anthrax." Hikufe further writes that anthrax is a disease transmissible from animals to humans, and in most cases is fatal. "Therefore, according to the Disease and Parasite Act, Act 13 of 1995, should such a life-threatening disease be suspected, strict precautionary measures will be put in place until it is deemed safe."
[The owner of the farm] has in the meantime engaged his Gobabis-based private lawyer to look for proof of the tests conducted by the Ministry of Health and Social Services. [The lawyer], for his part, wrote on 22 Mar 2012 to the ministry, instructing them to give his office all the results of samples taken from the farm workers who tested positive for anthrax. [He] stated in the letter that his client, continues to suffer losses at the farm as business activities there have stopped.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail from HealthMap alerts
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Omaheke is a new province carved out of Gobabib and Hereroland Oos. If you go to 'Omaheke' on Google Earth you can click on pictures of the various game farms in the area and get an appreciation of the countryside.
The disease is only sporadically reported in livestock but sometimes the impact is significant; e.g., 44 cattle died in an outbreaks in 2005 but in general the agricultural reporting leaves much to be desired. On the other hand wildlife outbreaks in the Etosha National Park and in the Caprivi Strip are reported in detail. In the period 2000 to 2010 human cases have varied from 0 to 10; data for 2011 are not yet available.
ONLY one of the five recent 'mysterious' deaths in the Omaheke Region appears to have been related to anthrax.
Namibia: Anthrax Not Ruled Out in Omaheke
By Denver Kisting, 13 April 2012 Comment
ONLY one of the five recent 'mysterious' deaths in the Omaheke Region appears to have been related to anthrax.
However, by yesterday - about two months after a young woman died - no conclusive results were available.
Dr Jack Vries, chairperson of the national health emergency management committee in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, yesterday said: "One person's blood showed that the person had recently been exposed to anthrax."
This woman was one of two from the farm Kroonster who died in February.
Her autopsy report showed liver failure. It still needs to be determined what caused this condition and to what extent it relates to the anthrax exposure.
Vries emphasised that no animal deaths on the farm could be linked to anthrax.
The three people who died at Wonderboom in February probably died as a result of poisoning. "There is a history of tombo (home brew) ingestion," Dr Vries said.
The Directorate of Veterinary Services initially placed Kroonster - a dairy farm - under quarantine but that has been lifted in the meantime.
Earlier, it was reported that the Kroonster people died after eating a cow that had died.
Kroonster owner Japie Engelbrecht said his business suffered because of the quarantine.
ONLY one of the five recent 'mysterious' deaths in the Omaheke Region appears to have been related to anthrax.
Namibia: Anthrax Not Ruled Out in Omaheke
-----------------------------------------
Only one of the five recent 'mysterious' deaths in the Omaheke Region appears to have been related to anthrax. However, by yesterday - about two months after a young woman died - no conclusive results were available.
Dr Jack Vries, chairperson of the national health emergency management committee in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, yesterday said: "One person's blood showed that the person had recently been exposed to anthrax."
This woman was one of two from the farm Kroonster who died in February. Her autopsy report showed liver failure. It still needs to be determined what caused this condition and to what extent it relates to the anthrax exposure. Vries emphasised that no animal deaths on the farm could be linked to anthrax.
The three people who died at Wonderboom in February probably died as a result of poisoning. "There is a history of tombo (home brew) ingestion," Dr Vries said. [Too often it involves methyl alcohol. MHJ]
The Directorate of Veterinary Services initially placed Kroonster - a dairy farm - under quarantine but that has been lifted in the meantime. Earlier, it was reported that the Kroonster people died after eating a cow that had died. Kroonster owner Japie Engelbrecht said his business suffered because of the quarantine.
(DENVER KISTING)
--
Communicated by
ProMED-Mail Correspondent Susan Baekeland
[So far we have one probable human anthrax case, seemingly based on a positive blood culture. But this is a good example that not every death in such an event has to be "anthrax."
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