We, the people of Bangladesh are already in huge pain due to chronic load-shedding in the entire country. The party in power were very loud in criticizing the previous government for not adding sufficient power supply to national grid lines, which is the cause of current power shortage.
by Mehnab Khan
(November 09, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Days after issuing ‘red alert’ on the spread of anthrax in the country, livestock minister Abdul Latif Biswas claimed on October 11, 2010 that Bangladesh is completely free of anthrax. But on the same day, the minister said, government agencies and departments have been asked to stay alert to prevent any “further spread”.
This statement of the minister is self-contradictory indeed! On one hand he claims the country to be ‘free’ from anthrax, while on the other hand he asks the government agencies and departments to ‘stay alert to prevent further spread’. This second part of the statement clearly indicates that the minister was not honest enough when he declared the country to be free from anthrax.
Anthrax, a domestic animal-related disease, spread mainly in the northern districts and claimed the lives of around 110 cattle, mostly cows. Anthrax is caused by Bacillus anthracis, a bacterium that lives naturally in certain types of soil. The bacterium produces spores. Spores are hardy forms of the bacterium that can survive in soil or on contaminated objects for years. Animals get anthrax by grazing on soils contaminated with anthrax spores. People get anthrax by touching infected animals or animal products, such as wool, hides, leather, or hair products (especially goat hair). The bacteria get into the body through a break in the skin. In rare cases, people can get anthrax by breathing in anthrax spores from contaminated soil or animal products or by eating undercooked meat from infected animals.
In the body, anthrax spores produce a powerful toxin (poison) that causes the signs and symptoms of illness. The signs and symptoms vary depending on how a person was infected.
Infection by skin contact: Most cases occur by skin contact. Skin infection begins as a raised itchy bump that looks like an insect bite. Within 1-2 days, it develops into a boil-like sore and then a painless ulcer with a characteristic dark (dying) area in the center. The infection can also cause swelling of the lymph glands near the site. About 20% of untreated cases will result in death. With proper treatment, deaths from this type of anthrax are rare.
Infection by inhalation: People who get anthrax by breathing in spores have symptoms that are like a common cold. After several days, the symptoms can progress to severe breathing problems and shock. This type of anthrax usually results in death in 1-2 days after the start of severe symptoms.
Infection by ingestion: Intestinal infections from eating contaminated meat are rare. The infection causes severe inflammation of the intestinal tract. The first signs are nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, and fever, followed by abdominal pain, vomiting of blood, and severe diarrhea. Intestinal anthrax results in death in 25% to 60% of cases.
Though Bangladeshi government has some how managed to suppress the anthrax issue from the public attention for weeks, most of the health conscious people in the country are still refraining from consuming beef in particular fearing anthrax infection.
Anthrax fear has also greatly affected hundreds of fast food shops in the country along with some of the international food chains, who serve beef based food items such as pizza, burger etc. Foreigners living in Bangladesh are refraining from buying beef or beef based food item, while most of them are shifting to chicken, fish and vegetable. Such huge shifting of food habit has already caused in sudden rise in price of chicken, fish and vegetable in the market, as many unscrupulous traders are taking the advantage of such situation by exorbitantly increasing prices of these items.
While the country is not our of anthrax fear and even certain degree of risk of getting infected to anthrax virus with the consumption of beef, Bangladesh is set to celebrate Eid-U-Azha, a major religious festival of the Muslims, when thousands of cows would be sacrificed by the affluent people. It is important to mention here that a major segment of cattle supply during Eid comes from the cross border trafficking network. In other words, Indian cattle are the major supply source. But, question here is, whether authorities concerned in Bangladesh are well equipped and capable of inspecting the cattle before it enters the cattle markets? I am quite sure, they are not! In this case, can we become concerned to think that a portion of the cattle sold in the cattle market during the Eid festival may contain anthrax germs? Are we going to witness, many people in the urban areas, especially the large cities, infected with this virus?
Public health issue is no joke and hopefully our policymakers realize such facts. This cannot be addressed the way they always are habituated in politicizing every other issue.
We, the people of Bangladesh are already in huge pain due to chronic load-shedding in the entire country. The party in power were very loud in criticizing the previous government for not adding sufficient power supply to national grid lines, which is the cause of current power shortage. But, may we humbly remind them that Bangladesh Awami League is already in administration for almost two years. And what we are seeing is just increase of sufferings of people due to power shortage. Previously, the load shedding was 1-2 hours a day, while now we are seeing multiple load-shedding during days and nights, without any real hope of any improvement of the situation even in next several months. Law and order situation in the country is worst than any previous time, while the campuses are engulfed by reign of terror by the student wing of the ruling party. And unfortunately enough, the ruling party is not visibly concerned at any of these situations.
But, can we at least expect them to be rather sensible and responsible, at least while they address the anthrax issue? The government needs to evidently prove that there are sufficient measures in each of the cattle markets in the country to inspect each of the sacrificial animals, before they enter the markets.
Finally, I must remind my readers here that the ruling party men have taken control of most of the cattle markets in the country. And of course, my fear is, those influential figures from the ruling party may force the health officials in issuing certificates to most of the animals without even minimal inspection?
Mehnab Khan is a free lance columnist writing on regional and international issues.
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