GUWAHATI: The Assam forest department on Thursday launched a vaccination drive amid fears of a possible anthrax spread following the detection of the highly contagious disease in a wild elephant inside the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary in Upper Assam.
A female elephant, among two wild elephants which were found dead at seperate locations of the wildlife sanctuary, had tested positive for the disease last Tuesday.
“The vaccination drive was launched today following the arrival of 3000 vaccine doses from Guwahati,” Dibrugarh divisional forest officer Pradipta Baruah told The Shillong Times on Thursday.
Sources said the vaccination drive would be conducted among livestock owned by the villagers within a 5 km radius from where the carcasses of the elephants were found.
Anthrax is a spore-forming bacteria called ‘Bacillus anthracis’, leading to fatality within a few hours in animals.
“An awareness meeting among the villagers living in the vicinity of the wildlife sanctuary was also held,” Baruah said.
Meanwhile, a thorough search is being conducted to determine whether there are more carcasses of wild elephants in the wildlife sanctuary.
“We have not found any more carcasses so far,” the DFO said.
Officials say that the detection of the disease could be first confirmed case of anthrax in wild elephants in the state.
“Anthrax infections were detected in livestock in the Joypore area in Naharkatiya six to seven years back. But this could be the first confirmed case of the disease in wild elephants in Assam,” Khanin Changmai, a veterinary surgeon with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) based in Tinsukia, told this correspondent.
“An autopsy on both the elephants was conducted along with veterinarians from the state forest department. Samples have been sent to the department of microbiology, College of Veterinary Science, Khanapara and the autopsy result of the second elephant will be out in a day or two,” Changmai said.
The WTI official said that tracing the source of the infection is very crucial to prevent any possible spread even as the forest department had burnt the two carcasses and then fenced an area of 20 metres at both the sites.
Anthrax also affects humans, causing high fever, skin infection and digestive problems but can be cured with timely intervention.