| ULAN
BATOR (Reuters) - Mongolia has brought under control a series
of anthrax outbreaks in which two people were infected with
the highly contagious disease, civil defense officials said
Wednesday.
``We
have stopped the spread of the disease and thousands of
animals are being vaccinated,'' senior civil defense official
Ikhbayar told Reuters.
``Urgent
measures are being taken because anthrax can be transferred
to people,'' he said. ``Officials are paying a lot of
attention to this.''
Two
people, a man and a woman, were treated for the disease
in Lun county, some 80 miles from Ulan Bator. One was
in satisfactory condition, but the state of the other
was not immediately known, officials said.
The
disease had also occurred in four other areas and tens
of thousands of animals had been vaccinated, Ikhbayar
said.
The
movement of animals in and out of the affected areas had
been banned until all livestock, on which many Mongolians
depend, were vaccinated, he said.
Mongolia's
herds have been devastated over the last year by drought
followed by an unusually harsh winter, which buried under
snow the grasslands on which they usually feed.
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