CITY OF TABUK, Kalinga (PIA) – Governor James S. Edduba has issued a temporary ban on the transport of live carabao and carabao meat products to the province to prevent the possible entry of the anthrax disease.
The order was issued in the wake of reports of confirmed human and animal anthrax cases in Barangay Calassitan in Sto Nino in nearby Cagayan province.
Animal quarantine checkpoints are now on high alert for strict inspections of vehicles transporting animals to the province.
Based on the advisory released by the Department of Agriculture, Region 02, four positive cases of buffalo anthrax were logged in Sto, Nino. The report further showed 73 persons exposed to products of slaughtered carabaos in the area displayed symptoms of human anthrax and are now isolated for health care and observation.
The Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Region 02 characterized animals affected with anthrax to have loss in appetite, difficulty in moving or lethargy, presence of blood in urine and may also cause sudden death.
Persons infected with the disease bear skin wounds, the Department of Health advisory stated. Other “symptoms of intestinal anthrax include vomiting, nausea, fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea.”
The temporary ban will be lifted as soon as the source is cleared, the order stated. (JDP/LL-PIA CAR, Kalinga).
