A quarantine has been introduced in the village of Pririchnoye, Denisovsky District, Kostanay Region, due to an outbreak of anthrax in cattle.
According to media reports, restrictions have been imposed until the situation with the disease stabilises. The number of infected animals has not been disclosed.
It is noted that last year cases of anthrax were recorded in the Akmola, Zhambyl, Turkestan and Karaganda regions, and one person died as a result of infection.
"At the department's board meeting held at the end of the year, the Minister of Agriculture, Aidarbek Saparov, criticised the preventive work of local veterinary services. In particular, over the past year, the following facts were established: a lack of vaccination of animals against anthrax, a failure to account for the frequency of vaccination of young stock, the poor condition of anthrax burial sites, as well as uncontrolled movement of animals and their incomplete identification," the statement said.
At the same time, it became known that this spring, the environmental prosecutor's office conducted an inspection of the activities of the veterinary service in the Kostanay region.
The prosecutors identified systemic instances of fictitious vaccination of livestock, concealment of diseases in official reports, and violations of the procedure for the use and storage of vaccines. In addition, the department uncovered manipulation of statistics regarding the accounting and identification of farm animals.
Earlier, the Ministry of Agriculture reported that as a result of floods, 12 anthrax burial sites and 8 cattle burial grounds were in the flood zone. Shortly before that, the department had stated that 10 anthrax burial sites were flooded and assured that there was no risk of highly dangerous infections emerging.
It is worth noting that previously, a report appeared in the media from a briefing of the "Central Communications Service," at which the head of veterinary and sanitary safety for the West Kazakhstan Region, Nurkaiyr Kusainov, stated that in the West Kazakhstan Region alone, meltwater had flooded 8 cattle burial grounds and 14 anthrax burial sites.
At that time, Kusainov also reported that there was a risk of animal infection, as the pathogen can persist in the soil. Later, for unknown reasons, the media removed the material containing the expert's words.