21 buffalo die in feared anthrax outbreak

• Malaria kills 329 people in Zimbabwe

• Anthrax outbreak kills 1500 animals

• Three dead of anthrax in Zimbabwe

• Lab tests rule out Ebola

• Ebola outbreak feared in Vic Falls

• Zimbabwe Tourism Authority

By Staff Reporter

AT LEAST 21 buffalo have died in the wildlife resort town of Hwange in north-western Zimbabwe in a suspected outbreak of anthrax, reports said Wednesday.

"At the moment, we can only speculate on what is killing the animals based on the symptoms we established ... It is definitely not hunger or thirst," Environment and Tourism Ministry Secretary Margaret Sangarwe said.

Sangarwe told said veterinary officers were making further investigations. Officials were not immediately available for further comment on Wednesday.

Anthrax can rapidly kill cattle and other herbivores, but is treatable with antibiotics.

Last year, veterinary officials said more than 2,000 animals, including 100 buffalo, had died in the biggest outbreak of anthrax in Zimbabwe's private sanctuaries and that the disease could have been spread by vultures from an outbreak in neighbouring Botswana.

In their bid to contain that outbreak authorities in Zimbabwe burnt two elephant carcasses, 100 buffalo and more than 2,000 smaller plains animals while over 800 big game animals including 35 rhinos and buffalo were vaccinated against the disease.

Natural anthrax is endemic in Zimbabwe where its bacillus spores can live for decades in dry soil and are ingested by animals ruminating for remnants of vegetation, particularly in the driest months of September and October before the summer rains.

Humans can contract the disease if they cut up, carry or eat the meat of infected animals - Reuters
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