Behavioural factors associated with cutaneous anthrax in Musadzi area of Gokwe North, Zimbabwe

Abstract

We conducted a matched case-control study for age, sex, and village. Setting: Arural community in Musadzi area of GokweNorth district. Subjects: We interviewed 35 cases and 35 controls. A case was defined as any resident/visitor o f Musadzi, diagnosed with anthrax between 9 September and 10 November 2004. A control was any resident who had not been diagnosed with anthrax and had no lesions suggestive o f anthrax on day o f the interview. Main Outcome Measures: Behaviour factors associated with contracting anthrax. Results: In September 2004, cattle were reported to be dying in Musadzi area. Bacillus anthracis was positively identified in a blood smear from some o f the carcasses. The attack rate among humans was 5%. Risk factors associated with contracting anthrax were: skinning o f animals that had died from unknown causes AOR=3.8 (95% 0 :1.3-10.7); preparation o f the meat for cooking (AOR-3.1 (95% 0:1.16-8-4); preparation o f the meat for drying AOR=2.7 (95% Cl: 1.0081-7.4); belonging to a religious or ethnic sect that allow handling o f meat from animals that had died from unknown causes (AOR=5.2 (95% Cl: 1.8-14.8). Conclusion: The human anthrax outbreak was secondary to an anthrax epizootic occurring in cattle. The Ministry of Health activated the local zoonotic committee, carried out anthrax awareness campaigns, supervised the destruction o f carcasses, disinfected potentially contaminated sites and introduced a participatory health education tool on anthrax. The veterinary department quarantined and vaccinated cattle.

An investigation of an anthrax outbreak in Makoni District, Zimbabwe

“…The following were found to be risk factors for contracting anthrax; source of meat from other villagers, skinning and religion, which permits eating meat from cattle slaughtered due to unknown illness or butchered after an unobserved death. These ndings are consistent with other studies done locally and might be due to the similarity of practices [12,20,21]. The reason why skinning was associated with contracting anthrax is that during the process, cuts and abrasions are likely to develop, and these create access routes for the spores to the sub-dermal tissue [1].…”

“…As soon as the district started to institute outbreak control measures, the outbreak did not prolong further. The massive health education and awareness campaigns conducted could have signi cantly contributed to the end of the outbreak [16,20].…”

Awareness and Attitude Toward Zoonoses with Particular Reference to Anthrax Among Cattle Owners in Selected Rural Communities of Zimbabwe

“…Cutaneous anthrax has been reported to have a very low case-fatality rate < 1% when treated early and appropriately (Christie 1973). Low case-fatality rates have been reported in human anthrax outbreak investigations in the country (Mwenye et al 1996, Takawira et al 2004, Chirundu et al 2009, Gombe et al 2010. Other literature also confirms low case fatality rates with treatment (Lakshmi and Kumar 1992, Kumar et al 2000, Woods et al 2004).…”

“…n Zimbabwe, anthrax, brucellosis, rabies, bovine tuberculosis (bTB), trypanosomiasis, and cysticercosis are known to occur in animals (Chambers 1989, Bingham et alfactors contributing to frequent outbreaks of human anthrax in Zimbabwe (Mwenye et al 1996, Chirundu et al 2009, Gombe et al 2010. It has been reported elsewhere that this human behavior is partly influenced by lack of awareness ( Mosalagae et al 2011), perceptions, and attitude (Opare et al 2000, Shirima et al 2003, John et al 2008, and/or misconceptions (Webb 2003) about zoonoses.…”

Isolation of Bacillus anthracis from soil in selected high-risk areas of Zimbabwe

“…Anthrax in Zimbabwe is endemic with many of the high-risk districts reporting outbreaks almost every year since 1995 when more complete data from the Department of Veterinary Services became available. It is also one of the most common zoonosis in the country where people are mainly exposed through skinning of infected animals and consumption of contaminated meat as documented by studies on outbreaks of the disease in humans (Nass 1992;Mwenye et al 1996;Chirundu et al 2009;Gombe et al 2010). As evidenced by the current study where B. anthracis was isolated from some carcass burial sites of more than 1-year duration, the long-term survival of spores in the environment continues to pose a risk of exposure to livestock and wildlife once the environment becomes contaminated.…”