Bangkok Post – Thailand reports first anthrax death in 30 years

Second case of infection reported in Mukdahan, 600 possibly exposed

Thailand has reported its first anthrax-related death in three decades, prompting a public health alert after authorities identified hundreds of people in Mukdahan province potentially exposed to the deadly bacteria.

A 53-year-old man in Mukdahan died on Wednesday after contracting anthrax, with a second case confirmed in the same province and three additional suspected cases under investigation, Dr Narong Chankaeo, chief of the provincial health office, said on Friday.

The deceased and his friend both showed symptoms including skin lesions on their hands as well as rashes.

The infected man, however, was in good health prior to the infection and has not developed severe symptoms yet, said the doctor.

He is being treated in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery in about two weeks if there are no serious complications, said Dr Narong.

Don Tan district — just across the Mekong River from Laos where dozens of anthrax infections were reported last year — has now been declared a disease control area.

A total of 638 people in Don Tan are known to have come into contact with the same source of infection, the doctor said, either through butchering or consuming raw or undercooked beef.

All have been prescribed doxycycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

Anthrax spreads from an infected animal to humans, and not from human to human.

The nearby provinces of Amnat Charoen, Kalasin and Nakhon Phanom are now  on alert for possible anthrax infections and have warned residents not to consume raw beef.

The Department of Livestock Development will vaccinate about 1,200 cattle within a 5-kilometre radius of where the first anthrax case broke out.

No animals have shown signs of illness or unexplained death so far, the department added.

Thailand last reported human anthrax cases in 2017, when two people were infected without fatalities. In 2000, 15 cases were recorded, also without deaths.

Wednesday’s death was the first anthrax fatality in the country since 1994 when three died and follows a rise in regional infections. Laos reported 129 anthrax infections last year, including one death, while Vietnam confirmed 13 cases in May 2023.

A Livestock Development Department worker seals off a site where beef cattle were butchered at Khok Sawang village in tambon Laomee of Don Tan district in Mukdahan province. (Photo: Mukdahan provincial public relations office Facebook)