Liputan6.com, Jakarta On July 4, 2023, the Ministry of Health said that anthrax cases had returned to attack Gunungkidul Regency, DIY.
So far, three people in Gunungkidul have died from the virus. It has been a long time since cases of anthrax attacked various regions.
When I was still serving as the Director General of Disease Control at the Ministry of Health, I handled anthrax cases several times, including in 2010 in Maros and in 2011 in Boyolali.
During the incident in Maros in 2010, at least five cows died in two weeks in March 2010, one of which was slaughtered when he was sick and the meat was distributed to the community.
According to the test results at the Veterinary Center on 29 March 2010, the cows were positive for anthrax. In patients who were there at that time, treatment was carried out and of course blood was also drawn to be examined in the laboratory.
From this experience, of course, during the current incident in Gunung Kidul, a laboratory examination has been carried out to identify and confirm the anthrax. In addition to blood tests, skin, stool and lumbar puncture examinations can also be carried out, if necessary.
Meanwhile, the anthrax incident in Boyolali in 2011, the chronology of the spread of the epidemic, started with a sick cow at the end of January 2011. The owner of the cow was slaughtered for his own consumption of meat and some was sold to the market.
The experiences in Maros and also Boyolali show that anthrax is transmitted from sick animals which are then slaughtered and consumed by humans, something that needs to be made clear to the wider community so that incidents and even deaths in humans do not continue to happen like in Gunung Kidul today.
What Is Anthrax?
Anthrax (Anthrax) is an infectious animal disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax generally attacks herbivorous animals such as cows, goats, sheep, and others and can be transmitted to humans.
This disease is zoonotic, which means it can be transmitted from animals to humans. The bacteria that cause anthrax, when exposed to air, will form spores that are highly resistant to environmental conditions and chemicals including certain disinfectants and can survive in the soil, so that sometimes anthrax is also called “soil disease”.
There are three types of manifestations of the disease in humans. The first is cutaneous anthrax, this is the most common type of anthrax, but is not dangerous. The word anthrax does mean “charcoal” in Greek, and this term was used because the victims’ skin would turn black.
The second type is alimentary anthrax and the third is pulmonary or respiratory anthrax, which can also be severe in some cases, causing shock and meningitis and even death.
Because anthrax is a zoonotic and even occurs in the soil, it must be handled through a One Health approach, which is a joint work between human health, animal health and environmental health.