In early August, three cattle farms were infected with anthrax. The risk for humans is negligible.
No risk for humans. This is what must be remembered from the contamination with anthrax which took place in Moselle. 19 cows were found dead in a few days in three farms in Saint-Jean-de-Bassel, Romelfing and Dolving. The breeders suspected the treatment against the processionary caterpillar carried out in the spring of having caused these cases. The helicopter spraying technique used a strain similar to that of anthrax, a bacterium also responsible for anthrax. After analysis, the national reference laboratory of ANSES (National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety) was able to rule out this doubt. It also confirms the infection with this bacterium on the farms concerned.
Affected cattle that have not succumbed are treated with antibiotics, as are farmers, their families and anyone who has come into contact with the animals. The rest of the herds were vaccinated, as a precaution. According to Barbara Dufour, professor of contagious diseases and epidemiology at the Alfort veterinary school, “there is no danger in consuming beef. The control circuits guarantee that no contaminated animal will arrive on your plate ”. The cases of transmission to humans recently detected in Siberia concerned wild animals consumed directly by the population. As a reminder, 90 people had been hospitalized and a child had died after ingesting reindeer meat infected with anthrax. However, “in France, nobody eats sick or dead animals”.
Several shapes not to be confused
What about a passage not through the meat, but through contact with the animal? Animal-to-animal or animal-to-human transmission is very rare. The bacteria survive as spores in the environment. In the current French situation, “the only risk of contamination is the contact of a wound with these spores, when handling a corpse for example, explains Barbara Dufour. We then speak of cutaneous anthrax and it is very easily treated with antibiotics ”. The prefecture simply recommends “to stay away from any wild animal found dead and to respect the pasture enclosures”.
As a precaution, pastoralists on affected farms vaccinate their livestock over several years, as the spores survive for a very long time in the soil. “They are called the cursed fields, because the infection can reappear, thanks to heavy rains or works. But the danger remains confined to the only animals that graze in these fields, ”reassures Barbara Dufour. The specialist adds that the anthrax encountered in certain French farms should not be confused with its respiratory equivalent, often called anthrax. This form corresponds to the inhalation of spores from a strain manipulated with the intention of causing harm, as had been the case by letter bombs in the United States in 2001. It belongs to the field of bioterrorism and has nothing to do with it. see with the cases which affect these three Moselle farms. Something to reassure yourself and continue to taste our good French meat breeds in peace.
.
