Five individuals in eastern Hungary have been hospitalized and are currently being monitored for showing possible symptoms of anthrax.
Anthrax, a serious and potentially lethal disease caused by the Bacillus anthracis, commonly infects herbivorous mammals but the disease can be contracted by humans as well such as when a person ingests an infected meat. Infection, which is characterized by skin ulcers, nausea, vomiting and fever, occurs when the bacteria enter a broken skin or when a person breathes in the spores of the bacteria.
Although anthrax does not spread from person to person through casual contact, coughing and sneezing, the disease can be fatal if left untreated. In 2001, anthrax was sent to several people in the U.S. including senators which have resulted in 5 fatalities and medical treatment of 22 others.
The five individuals in Hungary are being monitored for possible anthrax infection after the disease has been identified in frozen beef from cattle that were illegally slaughtered in a farm in Tiszafured, a town located in central Hungary's Northern Great Plain region.
The five individuals are believed to work in the slaughterhouse and are suspected to have contracted the deadly disease during the slaughtering of the cattle. Some of the beef were sent to a company that runs canteens and whose operation was already suspended while the investigation is ongoing. The firm is also likely to face criminal investigation after it was caught buying meat from illegal sources.
Hungary's health authority ANTSZ said that it is trying to find out if there are more people that have come in contact with the infected animals or contaminated meat as infected individuals can still be treated with antibiotics if the infection is identified early enough. Health authorities likewise said that other animals that could be exposed to anthrax are already being vaccinated.
"Authorities have taken the necessary measures, so there is no longer an immediate danger," the ANTSZ said in a statement.
This isn't the first time that anthrax raised concern in recent weeks. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed last month that scientists and staff who work in low security CDC laboratories were possibly exposed to anthrax after receiving inactivated anthrax bacteria from high security laboratories. On June 30, the CDC said that affected employees can stop taking the antibiotics and vaccine after it determined that there was no increased risk of anthrax exposure following the incident.
