Nicola Smith – Three people have died after an anthrax outbreak in Indonesia that reportedly infected more than 90 people who consumed contaminated meat.
Health officials in Yogyakarta province, in the south of the country's most populous island, Java, confirmed this week that three people had died from the bacterial infection.
"For death cases, there are three people in Semanu Sub-district, Gunung Kidul District, Yogyakarta," the Ministry of Health said.
Anthrax is a serious infectious disease caused by bacteria known as Bacillus anthracis. It occurs naturally in soil and commonly affects domestic and wild animals, which can transmit the disease to humans.
The symptoms of anthrax can take up to two months to appear and depend on the type of infection but can include skin ulcers and blisters, fever, breathing difficulties, nausea and stomach aches.
All types of anthrax have the potential, if untreated, to spread throughout the body and cause severe illness and even death.
Dewi Irawati, the head of the Gunung Kidul Regency health agency, said the authorities had immediately launched an investigation after receiving news that a 73-year-old man had died in hospital from suspected anthrax.
"We found that the patient also distributed the meat to dozens of other residents in his neighbourhood. Thus, we did blood tests on 125 residents and found 85 of them infected," Ms Irawati said.
She added that many had shown symptoms like diarrhoea, sores on the skin and rashes, but that they were being treated with antibiotics.
The number of infections has since risen to 93, according to local media reports.
Anthrax outbreaks have previously been reported around the world, including Russia, India and Vietnam and can also be deadly for animals.
In October 2014, an outbreak of gastrointestinal and skin anthrax in a village in Jharkhand, India, reportedly killed seven people, and in July 2016, nearly 100 people from nomadic communities in northern Siberia were hospitalised with the disease.
This week the Canadian authorities said they were investigating a suspected outbreak among bison in the Northwest Territories.
The US was hit by an anthrax scare in September 2001 after letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and politicians, killing five and infecting 17 others.