Photo : BSS

By Md Mamun Islam

RANGPUR, Oct 1, 2025 (BSS) – The patients diagnosed with anthrax symptoms in three upazilas of the district have already been recovered as the situation is now under control in Rangpur and its adjoining areas.

Talking to BSS today, Rangpur District Livestock Officer Dr Md Abu Sayeed said that the first patient with symptoms of anthrax was reported in Pirgachha upazila of Rangpur in April last, who had slaughtered an anthrax-infected cow. 

The slaughterer had a small cut on his finger, blood infected with bovine anthrax entered his body through the injured finger and infected him.

 "The cow-borne anthrax causes sores on the human skins and no one dies from the disease. Goats never carry anthrax," he said.

 This disease spreads from cattle to humans, but not from humans to humans. The main symptom of this disease in humans is the formation of sores on the skin. 

Later, people of Pirgachha upazila slaughtered 10 to 12 cows with anthrax symptoms in the subsequent months, consumed and sold the meat and some others preserved in their refrigerators.

By this time, some other people of four unions in the upazila were infected with bovine anthrax and admitted to Pirgachha Upazila Health Complex.

“Subsequently, we launched an anthrax vaccination campaign in August and have already vaccinated 1.70 lakh cows in Pirgachha, Kawnia, Mithapukur and Sadar upazilas of Rangpur,” he said.

The anthrax vaccination campaign also continues in adjoining Chilmari, Rajarhat and Ulipur upazilas of Kurigram and Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha, he added.

Later, a five-member team of the Epidemiology Unit of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), responsible for surveillance, investigating, and responding to disease outbreaks in livestock, including zoonotic disease, came to Rangpur in September.

“The team of experts visited the affected areas in Pirgachha upazila on September 3 and 4, collected six samples of refrigerated cow meat from different houses and went back to Dhaka,” Dr Sayeed said.

After examining the collected meat samples at Dhaka, the Epidemiology Unit of the DLS found five out of six samples anthrax positive, he said.

By this time, the District Civil Surgeon Office of the health department also started working to control the anthrax situation.

The District Civil Surgeon Office sources said the Epidemiology Unit of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) also tested refrigerated meat samples of sick cows from the scene and identified anthrax cases. 

Besides, a delegation of experts from the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has identified eight anthrax patients from Pirgachha in the district. 

The IEDCR delegation collected samples of 12 men and women with anthrax symptoms from Pirgachha Sadar and Parul unions on September 13 and 14 last.
 
After testing samples of 12 people from Pirgachha upazila, the IEDCR experts identified eight of them as having anthrax. Anthrax bacteria have been found in refrigerated beef too. 

Pirgachha Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr Md Tanvir Hasnat said that some 30 patients with symptoms of anthrax have received treatment at Pirgachha Upazila Health Complex (PUHC) and been recovered.

“Our medical team went to the anthrax affected areas to make the local people and affected persons aware so that they do not panic. No one died from anthrax in the upazila yet,” he said. 

Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Md Ruhul Amin said that not only in Pirgachha, patients with similar symptoms were found in Kawnia and Mithapukur upazilas too. Samples of eight more patients have already been sent to the IEDCR.

The report has not come yet. 

Advising against slaughtering sick cattle and eating the meat of sick animals, Dr Md Ruhul Amin said that the antibiotics required for the treatment of those infected are stored in sufficient quantities in the Upazila Health Complexes. 

“We have instructed the Upazila Health Complexes to provide proper treatment to these patients,” he added.