ANKARA - Turkish authorities quarantined a village in the southeast of the country Tuesday after eight villagers were diagnosed with anthrax, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The outbreak was discovered when one of those taken ill, from the village of Cukurca, was taken to hospital in Bingol province.
Health authorities identified seven other infected people in a subsequent check in the village.
Two of those, a brother and a sister aged 10 and nine respectively, were in a life-threatening situation, the doctor treating them told Anatolia.
Officials immediately imposed a ban on animals leaving or entering the village and began to destroy all the meat found in households, the report said.
Mehmet Bayiltmis, the father of the sick children, told the agency that up to 85 sheep and goats had died in the past week and a vet called to the village declared there was nothing to worry about.
"He (the vet) told us we could eat the meat of the animals except the internal organs. So some villagers gave the meat of the dead animals to relatives and others sent their sick animals to butchers in Bingol," he said.
"We called the vet again when more animals died. This time he told us it was anthrax," he added.
There are occasional anthrax cases in Turkey, especially in central and eastern parts, although authorities says the disease is on the wane and under control.
Anthrax occurs when animals eat contaminated vegetation, absorbing bacterial spores that can live for decades.
07/05/2005 16:34 GMT