New Delhi: Anthrax, a highly infectious disease, has killed five people in a tribal-dominated district of Orissa while five more cases have been reported from Andhra Pradesh, health officials said here.

"Five people died of anthrax in the Koraput district of Orissa. We have also received information that five anthrax cases have been reported from Nellore area in Andhra Pradesh," Shiv Lal, director of National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), told reporters on Wednesday.

He, however, said the outbreak of the disease, which is caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis that is commonly seen among cattle, sheep, goats and antelopes, was not connected with bird-flu that has created havoc in West Bengal. Anthrax occurs in humans when exposed to infected animals or tissue from infected animals. Thirteen of the 19 districts of West Bengal are affected by bird-flu.

Lal said an NICD team would be leaving for Orissa Thursday to assess the situation. "Both these areas are endemic areas and earlier also anthrax cases have been reported from there," he added. Lal said the people in Orissa were infected with the bacterial infection because they ate the contaminated meat while in Andhra Pradesh people handled the infected animals. As it is a cutaneous (or skin) infection, they got infected, he said.

Source : IANS