Officials Confirm Deadly Anthrax Outbreak That ‘Kills Within Hours’
Deadly disease threatens to breakout to the human pollution
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Officials have warned of a deadly anthrax breakout after a pig was infected with the bacterial disease in Romania.
The infected pig was found on a farm in the small town off Saveni near the border with Moldova, according to Romania's veterinary health authority ANSVSA.
Another thirteen pigs were also thought to be at risk of infection as the disease, known as Bacillus anthracis, threatens to break out into the human population.
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According to The DailyStar: ANSVSA notified the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) of the outbreak of anthrax, which kills thousands of livestock across the world every year.
Anthrax is a bacterial pathogen often contracted by livestock and wild animals in warm climates, where herbivores get infected by consuming its spores while grazing.
The disease is also deadly to humans, who commonly become infected through the skin via contact with sick animals.
Inhalation of anthrax spores is the most deadly way to contract the disease, which has been tested for use as a biological weapon.
Symptoms include a high fever, an enlarged spleen, and swellings of the throat in some animals.
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Once the symptoms appear it is too late to treat with antibiotics.
In humans, initial signs and symptoms of anthrax inhalation include flu-like symptoms, mild chest discomfort, nausea and coughing up blood.
An anthrax infection is available to humans, but antibiotics can cure most infections.
Around 2,000 cases of anthrax infection are detected in humans each year.
Two Romanians were admitted to hospital in August last year after tests showed they were infected with anthrax.
Health authorities believe the pair, husband and wife, fell ill after coming into contact with infected animals.
Anthrax is a very serious disease of livestock because it can potentially cause the rapid loss of a large number of animals in a very short time.
European Union member Romania reported dozens of outbreaks of African swine fever in backyard pigs since spring and in July.
Around 50,000 at a breeding farm in the county of Tulcea had to be culled.
