Epidemic Hazard in Namibia on Wednesday, 28 March, 2012 at 05:36 (05:36 AM) UTC.

Initial laboratory tests were inconclusive and more samples were sent for testing in South Africa. Dr Jack Vries, chairperson of the National Health Emergency Management Committee, says the results of the latest tests are expected back by the end of this week. “We don’t know whether it’s anthrax or not.” Should it be anthrax, it is atypical because the victims had intestinal symptoms like diarrhoea and vomiting. This is not typical of anthrax, Vries said. It is understood that two people died at the Kroonster dairy farm and three at the farm Wonderboom. At Kroonster, four people had contact with the deceased and needed close monitoring while two had contact with the three from Wonderboom. The Kroonster people died after allegedly eating the meat of a cow that had died.

Kroonster owner Japie Engelbrecht yesterday said his business is doing “very badly” because his farm is under quarantine. Engelbrecht said he usually produces 600 litres of milk daily but is now prohibited from doing that. “And at the moment, there is no certainty of anything.” He denied that he had not vaccinated all his cattle against anthrax as required by law. “They are lying,” he said. Dr John Shoopala, the acting Chief Veterinary Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, yesterday said it was found that Engelbrecht had not immunised all his livestock against the deadly disease. Wonderboom owner Marthinus Human said he was only aware of two deaths on his farm. A young woman died on the way to Gobabis and an elderly woman died in her sleep on the farm, he said. Like Engelbrecht, Human yesterday claimed that no other animals on his farm were sick.
Animals normally do not survive anthrax infection, Shoopala said.

“In animals, you don’t really see symptoms; you just see them dead.” Meanwhile, Oswald Shivute reports from Oshakati that a four-year-old boy from Oshipumbushomugongo village in the Oshana Region died after allegedly eating contaminated donkey meat. Dr Shannon Kakungulu, the medical superintendent of the Oshakati State Hospital, said seven people were treated in the casualty ward on Monday after eating donkey meat. Kakungulu said the people were treated for food poisoning and discharged. Oshana Police spokesperson Sergeant Thomas Aiyambo said the deceased has been identified as four-year-old Matheus Amwaama. He said Amwaama and some other villagers ate a donkey that died of an unknown sickness. The villagers who ate the meat, including Amwaama, started complaining about stomach pains. Amwaama started vomiting and died before he could be taken to the Oshakati Hospital. Sergeant Aiyambo said most of them fried the donkey meat. Sergeant Aiyambo called on everyone who ate the meat and now feel sick to go to the nearest hospital or clinic.
He urged villagers not to eat animals that have died of unknown causes.

The Namibian has learnt that many people in the central north have taken to eating donkey meat, which was a taboo in the past. The new trend of eating donkey meat is ascribed to the high price of beef, mutton and goat.

- RSOE Edis