BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand's health ministry urged calm on Friday after the kingdom reported its first anthrax death in more than three decades, with a second infection already confirmed.
Anthrax -- which spreads through bacteria in soil -- commonly infects grazing livestock and wild animals but can kill humans with symptoms including skin lesions, blisters and swollen lymph nodes.
Health officials warned Thais against eating raw meat, a staple in the country's northeast, following the death of a 53-year-old man who reportedly handled a dead cow in Mukdahan province near the border with Laos.
A second 53-year-old man, also with a history of contact with cattle, has tested positive and been hospitalised in the same region.
Meanwhile 638 people in "risk groups", including a butcher and those who consumed raw beef, are being monitored and given antibiotics.
Weerawat Manosuthi, a spokesman for the health ministry's disease control department, said the victim who died on Wednesday had underlying health issues.
"The man touched the cow without proper protection," he told reporters in Bangkok.
"Two days later, he developed symptoms and sought medical care."
It was Thailand's first anthrax fatality since 1994, when three people died, and comes as infections rise in the region.
In neighbouring Laos 129 people were infected last year, with a single fatality.
Thai authorities plan to vaccinate more than 1,200 cattle in the infection area where the animals are experiencing a spate of illness and unexplained deaths, Weerawat said.
Raw beef dishes are a trademark of Thailand's northeast region, known as "Isaan", with meals often including uncooked meat mixed with chilli, red onions and coriander.
Thailand saw its last reported anthrax cases with two infections in 2017. In 2000, 15 people were also infected although no deaths were recorded. - AFP
