The causative agent of Anthrax B. anthracis has long been known to cause disease in animals and humans. Its worldwide distribution includes Ethiopia as an endemic country to the disease. The current study was aimed at identifying and developing risk maps, in areas that are suitable for the persistence of anthrax spores under climate change scenarios by using anthrax occurrence data and other predictor variables in MaxEnt model. A total of 158 occurrence locations were used as inputs along 10 current bioclimatic, future climatic grids and topographic covariates to develop a model and evaluate the individual contribution of each variable to the presence of B. anthracis in Ethiopia. It’s concluded that the most important variables limiting the distribution of B. anthracis in Ethiopia were Temperature, Precipitation, and Elevation. Under HADGEM2-ES future modeling scenarios except for RCP 8.5/2050 there is a decrease in areas of suitability from Current scenario under RCP 2.6/2050, RCP 2.6/2070, and RCP 8.5/2070. Subtle expansions of suitable areas are identified under RCP 2.6/2050 and RCP 2.6/2070 in the eastern parts of Ethiopia. However, there are small portions of southern areas that are expected to lose suitable habitats under all future scenarios. These findings could help health management authorities to formulate prevention and control strategies of anthrax in suitable areas under B. anthracis.

Anthrax is a zoonotic disease caused by spore forming Bacillus anthracis. Throughout the world, it causes illness in livestock, wildlife and sometimes secondarily infects humans and causes a major public health threat. The study was conducted to assess cattle owners’ awareness, perceptions and attitudes toward anthrax. Data on awareness of anthrax, clinical signs of anthrax in animals and human, its routes of transmission and methods of prevention, the families’ consumption habits of anthrax-infected carcasses, and other family activities that increase exposure to anthrax were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Overall, the level of awareness amongst the farmers for anthrax was 71.5%. All of the farmers were aware that anthrax occurs in cattle, and 54% indicated the presence of unclotting blood oozing from natural orifices as a consistent finding in cattle that died of anthrax, whereas 71.2% of them indicated the presence of skin lesions as the most common sign of the disease in humans. The good efficacy of human anthrax treatment (62%), slaughter of moribund cattle and selling of meat from cattle found dead to unsuspecting consumers (68%), reluctance to lose animals (28%), and forgetting about anthrax (46.4%) were mentioned as the major reasons for consuming anthrax-infected carcasses. Of the respondents 79.2% of cattle owners indicated that they would not consume meat from cattle found dead, because they were discouraged by veterinary authorities, therefore introducing meat inspection services is likely to have a positive impact in preventing human anthrax outbreaks in selected areas of Bangladesh. Bangladesh J. of Livestock Res. 21-25: 168-172, 2018 a