Disease

Siberian Anthrax Outbreak - Update

The number of confirmed anthrax cases in the Siberia outbreak has grown to 20, up from nine yesterday. The number of patients hospitalized is now 90, suggesting the area of risk is larger than previously thought, prompting fears of additional spread in Russia.

There are no reports of person-to-person transmission of anthrax. People get anthrax by handling contaminated animal or animal products, consuming undercooked meat of infected animals.

The outbreak of anthrax thas been linked to 75-year-old anthrax spores released by melting permafrost. It's an event of the sort many scientists have warned about: Warming temperatures reviving dormant diseases, perhaps even pathogens long-thought extinct. The anthrax currently infecting reindeer and people in western Siberia likely came from the carcass of a reindeer that died in an anthrax outbreak 75 years ago and has been frozen ever since — until an unusually warm summer thawed permafrost across the region this year.

Anthrax in Sweden

Swedish agricultural officials are reporting an anthrax outbreak in farms in the Östergötland region of southeastern Sweden, according to a local media account. The serious bacterial disease has killed nine animals (eight cattle and a horse) on two farms in the county. Swedish veterinary officials are currently vaccinating animals and investigating the source of the infection.