Sierra Leone Telegraph: 19 May 2022:
The government of Sierra Leone has this week announced the discovery of anthrax disease among animals in the northern district of Port Loko. A statement published by the Agriculture Ministry says that people can become very sick if they come into contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products.
According to the CDC, anthrax is not contagious, which means you can’t catch it from another person like the cold or flu.
People get infected with anthrax when spores get into the body. When anthrax spores get inside the body, they can be “activated.” The bacteria can then multiply, spread out in the body, produce toxins, and cause severe illness.
This can happen when people breathe in spores, eat food or drink water contaminated with spores, or get spores in a cut or scrape in the skin.
Certain activities can also increase a person’s chances of getting infected.
How do animals get infected with anthrax?
Domestic and wild animals can become infected when they breathe in or ingest spores in contaminated soil, plants, or water. These animals can include cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, and deer. In areas where domestic animals have had anthrax in the past, routine vaccination can help prevent outbreaks.
Where anthrax is found?
Anthrax is most common in agricultural regions of
- Central and South America,
- sub-Saharan Africa,
- central and southwestern Asia,
- southern and eastern Europe, and
- the Caribbean.
This is the public notice published this week by the government of Sierra Leone:
CDC has created “Guide to Understanding Anthrax pdf icon[PDF – 751K]”
Each time we have a press release about any serious matter in the country, politicians start to find their way in politicising the problem, instead of coming together and find solutions. That’s why, the government should take immediate action to put the situation under control. If they do that, there will be no time for politics.
What the government should do, is to immediately identify the affected areas not only in Port Look, but throughout the country. Secondly, they should start vaccinating animals in the affected areas and finally, compensate all the herdsmen whose animals have died.
Explaining and advising the whole nation about this awful and dangerous disease is important.
Mind you, the APC and the SLPP are fighting to gain control of Port Loko. I hope this will not cause problems for the people affected by this very serious disease which can pass onto humans. Some people including me, are doing our best to dial down the rhetoric on the political criticism these days, because of the political toxicity we find ourselves. Political extremism is now everywhere. SAD. Moderates have taken the back seat for now. But we will hammer the facts with political precision and hit the right political targets in the right political circles when the campaign opens.
I hope that the ministries of health and agriculture will implement the proposals I mentioned earlier. God bless Sierra Leone.
This is unbelievable news again on top of the Pandemic and War in Ukraine.
I hope and pray that our people will listen to the advice from the experts and desist from eating any infected animal.