A cow butchered in a household in Vadul lui Isac village of Cahul district is the source of the anthrax contracted by five men from the settlement, the National Food Safety Agency has said.

According to a communiqué of the Agency, quoted by IPN, the individual household purchased the animals from different settlements of Moldova, without documents of origin and sanitary-veterinary certificates and without mandatorily announcing the veterinarian and the local public authorities.

The National Food Safety Agency notes that vaccination against anthrax is free. The vaccination campaign started in April. It is carried out nationwide, once a year, before the animals are put out to pasture. Immunization covers all the cows, horses, sheep and goats, regardless of the sex of animals. The animals are vaccinated when they are older than one month.

Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and animals. Effective vaccines against anthrax are now available, and some forms of the disease respond well to antibiotic treatment. The persons from Vadul lui Isac developed cutaneous anthrax, which is considered the lightest form.