JAKARTA (AP): Indonesia was distributing anthrax vaccines across a remote island on Tuesday after 10 villagers contracted the disease from an infected buffalo, an agriculture official said.
Livestock movement in areas close to where the villagers lived on Flores island in the far east of the country has also been banned, said Musni Suatmojo, director of animal health at the Agriculture Ministry.
The 10 villagers were diagnosed with the disease last week, he said, adding that officials suspected they contracted it after cutting up and eating an infected buffalo.
They were diagnosed as having cutaneous anthrax, the most common form, which enters through a cut or abrasion and can cause skin rashes and swelling, he said. They were treated with antibiotics an are now recovering, Suatmojo said.
Anthrax commonly occurs in cows, sheep and goats, and can be transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected animals. The disease is endemic across much of Indonesia.
Some 20,000 doses of livestock vaccine were being distributed across the island, Suatmojo said.
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