Following the detection of anthrax in Ankara, Sivas and İstanbul, Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Sunday said 48 people were summoned to hospitals in İstanbul on suspicion of contact with animals infected by anthrax.
According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency, Koca said anthrax was detected in only six of the 48 people from the Silivri district of Istanbul, adding that all were discharged following medical treatment.
On Saturday media reported that a village in the Gürün district of Sivas province was quarantined after anthrax was detected in three members of a family.
Turkey’s Meat and Milk Board last week confirmed that anthrax was detected at a farm in the Gölbaşı district of Ankara where cattle imported from Brazil were kept.
According to a written statement from the board, “There is nothing to be concerned about because the infected meat was not released to the market.”
But the board failed to mention that 50 out of 3,959 cattle had died of anthrax.
According to a T24 news website report, the board vaccinated more than 10,000 animals at farms in the area.
The cattle were imported from Brazil just before Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival during which animals are sacrificed to God.
Speaking to the Cumhuriyet newspaper, villagers said dogs and birds ate the meat of the dead cattle, which had been dumped near a creek next to the farm. The bodies of the animals were finally buried three days after the anthrax was detected.