Veterinary students get antibiotics after autopsy of cow thought to have anthrax
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A group of about ten students of veterinary medicine at the University of Helsinki have been prescribed a course of antibiotics after taking part in an autopsy of a cow suspected of having had anthrax.
The autopsy was inconclusive, in that the cause of death was not pinpointed. However, on Thursday the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry learned that anthrax had been diagnosed in another cow on the farm where the first cow had died.
During the autopsy, the carcass had been washed using a high-pressure pump, and anthrax spores may have been inhaled by the students during the process.
The antibiotics are a precautionary measure, as none of the students had exhibited any symptoms.
A sample taken from the first cow in October and examined by the laboratory of the National Veterinary and Food Research Institute of Finland (EELA) revealed anthrax.
Although the the autopsy performed by the veterinary students was inconclusive, the cow in question is assumed to have had anthrax. A third cow on the same farm showed signs of fever, but has recovered after treatment with penicillin.
No milk or meat of the animals has been sold as food.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has imposed restrictions on the farm in question. No animal feed or live animals may be taken from the farm.
Milk deliveries from the farm are allowed to continue, as anthrax spores do not enter milk, and even if they did, they would die during pasteurisation.
The municipal veterinarian has been visiting the farm daily to check on the condition of the animals.
The likely source of the infection is animal feed, which was probably contaminated by the soil where the hay grew.
Anthrax spores can live in soil for as long as 20 or 30 years, which means that it is very difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of the disease.
Officials are confident that the precautions are sufficient, and that there is no danger that the disease would spread to people or to animals on other farms.
Helsingin Sanomat
