14 reindeer herders remain in hospital after anthrax outbreak in Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug

Another 14 reindeer herders remain in hospitals after an anthrax outbreak in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. RIA Novosti reports this.

“During the outbreak of infection in the Yamal region, 97 people with suspected infection were brought to Salekhard for treatment. Currently, according to the head of the infectious diseases department of the Salekhard district clinical hospital, Irina Lapenko, 14 people remain in the institution, including nine children who continue to undergo treatment,” the press service of the regional governor told the agency.

Six people were previously discharged from the hospital. They were taken by air ambulance flight to one of the Yamal villages. Then they will be transported to a clean camp in the tundra.

“All of them [those remaining in the hospital] are already recovering and will be discharged soon. The six people who were discharged today are adults who survived the disease and were successfully recovered. Today their health is not in danger. Moreover, after the infection they have developed a strong immunity, so they do not need vaccination for at least five years,” the message says.

Now the elimination of the consequences of the outbreak has been completed - liquidators burned more than two thousand remains of animals that died from anthrax.

More than two thousand deer have died in the region since the beginning of July. The animals are believed to have died due to an anthrax outbreak. Experts believe that the source of the disease could have been an old abandoned human cemetery. The catalyst for the spread of ulcer spores was abnormal heat.

On July 25, a quarantine was introduced in the Yamal region, more than 80 people were evacuated from the anthrax outbreak. The diagnosis was confirmed in 24 reindeer herders. In early August, a 12-year-old boy died from an intestinal ulcer.

The last case of an outbreak of infection in Yamal was registered in 1941.