Issue 2
Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Biosafety
Volume
4, Issue 2, June 2018, Page 44
ISSN 2411-3174 (print version) ISSN 2411-0388
(online version)
A MULTIFACETED BATTLE AGAINST
ANTHRAX IN EASTERN PART OF TURKEY IN WHERE ANTHRAX IS ENDEMIC
Sahin M. 1, Celebi O. 1,
Coskun M. R. 1, Saglam A. G. 1, Celik E. 1, Otlu S. 1,
Akça D.2,
Dogan A. N. C. 3, Buyuk F. 1
1 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of
Microbiology, University of Kafkas, Kars, Turkey,
e-mail: mitats@hotmail.com
2 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Kafkas, Kars, Turkey
3 Göle State
Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Ardahan,
Turkey
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PDF (print version)
Citation for print version: Sahin, M., Celebi, O., Coskun, M. R.,
Saglam, A. G., Celik, E.,
Otlu, S., Akça, D.,
Dogan, A. N. C. and Buyuk, F. (2018) ‘A multifaceted battle
against Anthrax in eastern part of Turkey in where Anthrax is endemic’, Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and
Biosafety, 4(2), p. 44.
Download
PDF (online version)
Citation for online version: Sahin, M., Celebi, O., Coskun, M. R.,
Saglam, A. G., Celik, E.,
Otlu, S., Akça, D.,
Dogan, A. N. C. and Buyuk, F. (2018) ‘A multifaceted battle
against Anthrax in eastern part of Turkey in where Anthrax is endemic’, Journal for Veterinary Medicine, Biotechnology and Biosafety.
[Online] 4(2), p. 44. Available at: http://jvmbbs.kharkov.ua/archive/2018/volume4/issue2/oJVMBBS_2018042_044.pdf
Anthrax
is a primarily infectious disease of herbivores and humans have its share of
zoonotic trait, as well. Anthrax was endemic in Kars which
is the center of animal breeding of the country. Human anthrax was predominantly reported at a record level (10.21%) in
Kars among other studied region in Turkey between 1995 and 2005. However,
animal anthrax ranged from 8.8 to 91% between the year 1993 and 2002. OIE
reports show a fluctuating course of animal anthrax between 2005 and 2017 and a
three-year peak was observed in Kars Region between
2012 and 2014. The number of epidemics visibly decreased in the last three
years both in animal and humans as a reflection of
increased vaccination and infection reporting systems, strict protection and
compliance regulations and well-managed outbreaks. Eventually, human anthrax is
now thin on the ground.
Beside
the success of governance on anthrax by constituting the strict politics we
think that our efforts on regional anthrax with studying almost all aspects of
the disease has contributed to regression of disease at least creating social
awareness. In addition, we continue collaborations with official authorities
such as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health, Turkey. The
studies are mostly focused in ecology, epidemiology,
prevention and decontamination of Anthrax and recently bacteriophages are
incorporated as the natural enemy of Bacillus
anthracis. Furthermore, a special effort is being spent to prevent anthrax cases in community by
providing the education to some authorities such as physician, veterinarian,
butcher and farmers and to trace outbreak by visiting several times of lots of
people in countryside who caught or exposed to anthrax. Beside the
multinational network project has been completed on anthrax environmentally
decontamination (AEDNet), a mutation based analytic
method (SNPs) is in the development stage to trace
epidemic in Kars region, Turkey. Furthermore, a NATO funded multi-participated
strategic work is now planning to remediate the side effects when a
bioterrorist attack with anthrax will be occurred and
both mutation-introducing characterization and advanced decontamination methods
will be integrated to this struggle program.
In the near future, we are planning to apply to the Turkish Government
for an Anthrax Reference Centre in Kars and thus will make more contributions
to human and animal welfare throughout the Kars and Turkey.
Keywords: anthrax, human, animal, multifaceted battle,
Turkey
