Four infected with Anthrax near Almaty

    Four residents of Kazatkom settlement in Almaty Oblast have become infected with anthrax, the Ministry of Health says.
    The four had slaughtered cattle without using proper sanitation methods, the ministry said.
    Even though the patients have a milder form of the disease, health-care officials are taking precautions because “it can turn into the septic form and lead to death,” according to Dr. Inna Moskalyova. She is the deputy head doctor at the Kaskelen Hospital for Infectious Disease.
    Anthrax, an often-virulent disease that some countries have developed into a biological weapon, can be passed from livestock to humans.
    The four anthrax patients are in isolation in a hospital and are being watched 24 hours a day, the ministry said.
    The Kazatkom settlement, 70 kilometers from Almaty, is under quarantine, with no one allowed in or out, according to Caspionet.kz.