An Investigation into a Human Anthrax Outbreak in Maragua District, Central Kenya
Date
2006Author
Njenga, M J
Kuria, J N
Wahome, R G
Gathura, P B
Thaiya, A G
Maina, C G
Mwangi, J
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
An outbreak of human anthrax occurred in Maragua district between December 2005 and January 2006 and an investigation was undertaken through visits
and interviews with the District Veterinary (DVO) and Public Health Officers, owners of cattle that had died, people who had butchered or eaten the meat from dead animals and patients who had been affected by the disease. It was found that 514 out of
700 people had eaten the affected meat but only 30 got clinical disease, one (1) of which was enteric and the rest twenty nine (29) were cutaneous. The attack
rate appeared to have been greatly reduced by the practice of repeatedly boiling the meat and discarding the soup before eating the meat. The disease outbreak
in cattle was associated with low vaccination rates of cattle against anthrax in the area, human movement, poor handling of the infected meat, and activities of
scavenging dogs and chickens and possibly insects. Ignorance, retrogressive socio-cultural practices and poor socio-economic conditions were risk factors that contributed to the outbreak of the disease in humans.
URI
http://www.ajol.info/index.php/kenvet/article/view/39625http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/34616
Citation
M J Njenga, J N Kuria, R G Wahome, P B Gathura, A G Thaiya, C G Maina, J Mwangi,An Investigation into a Human Anthrax Outbreak in Maragua District, Central Kenya,Kenya Veterinarian Vol. 30 (2) 2006: pp. 62-67Publisher
University of Nairobi, Department of Veterinary Pathology, Microbiology & Parasitology Faculty of Veterinary Medicine