The recent Siberia outbreak emerged in the Yamalo-Nenets region of Siberia, where different reindeer-herding communities live.
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A boy has died in an outbreak of deadly anthrax that is feared to have been sparked by the disease seeping out of long-dead bodies thawing in a frozen Siberian graveyard.
So far, the resurrected plague has killed 1500 reindeer since Sunday, although thankfully no people have died yet. CNN reports that diesel fuel has been delivered to the region to burn the infected carcasses, but that officials have been hesitant to begin such burning because the extreme heat has left the area highly susceptible to wildfires. This territory is located above the Arctic Circle, and is generally known for a very long winter that lasts up to 8 months, and extremely low temperatures, reaching -70 degrees Celsius. Temperatures that high are extremely uncommon in the area, and experts had believed that the heat wave may have been responsible for weakening and sickening the reindeer.
In an emotional statement, the local governor Dmitry Kobylkin said: “I was informed about the death of the boy in our hospital”.
Twenty more people have been diagnosed with the bacterial disease and are being treated in the regional capital, Salekhard. Humans can contract anthrax from handling diseased animals or eating infected meat. They came from a camp for reindeer herders close to the site of Anthrax outbreak.
Anthrax disease can cause pneumonia, blood infection, and death and is a result of bacteria named Bacillus anthracis.
Now its thought that the infection has spread beyond the 64 reindeer herders initially exposed in the rural community of Yar-Sale in northern Russian Federation.
“It’s unclear, but it’s most likely the gastrointestinal tract form.”
Anthrax carries a mortality rate of 25 percent to 80 percent depending on the virulence of the particular strain.
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The thawing of dead reindeer is being blamed for the outbreak in a remote area of Russian Federation. Outbreaks can also be quelled by burning livestock that died of the disease, or burying corpses very deep in the ground so that spores won’t penetrate to the surface. The boy was among several dozen indigenous people evacuated from the contaminated area.
