Cutaneous Anthrax, West Bengal, India, 2007

摘要

To the Editor: In most of India, anthrax is not common, probably be-cause a large proportion of the popu-lation is Hindu and does not eat beef. However, sporadic cases and out-breaks have been reported (1–6).On June 8, 2007, a healthcare facil-ity reported 12 cases of cutaneous an-thrax in the Muslim village of Sarkar-para (population 361). On August 4, 2007, another facility 50 km away re-ported 8 cases from the Muslim village of Charbinpara (population 835). These 2 outbreaks, both in Murshidabad dis-trict, West Bengal, were associated with the slaughtering of 4 cows. We in-vestigated each outbreak to confi rm di-agnosis, estimate magnitude (incidence and severity), and identify risk factors. We conducted house-to-house searches to identify case-patients and collected smears from skin lesions