Asides from Cholera, Zimbabwe Is Now Faced With An Anthrax Outbreak

As if the government of Zimbabwe has more than its hands full in dealing with a cholera break, now it has to deal with an anthrax outbreak.

Recently, the country of Zimbabwe has been struck by an outbreak of cholera. Many people have died from it. That is already a given that the outbreak has put the administration of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe under a lot of extra stress. However, Zimbabwe is not out of the clear yet. The British charity called, “Save the Children” has reported an anthrax outbreak. A few people were killed by the anthrax. However, the northern part of Zimbabwe could risk losing its entire livestock. First it is cholera, now Zimbabwe’s government has to deal with a possible anthrax outbreak. While it affects mainly livestock, people that consume the livestock will get infected. Due to food shortages, it can drive families to eat the tainted livestock. “Many families in the Zambezi Valley are so hungry that they are taking meat from the carcasses of their dead animals, even if they know it’s diseased, and are feeding it to their children,” explains Rachel Pounds of Save the Children. Due to the food shortage, thousands of people are at risk of getting infected with anthrax. The pain and misery in Zimbabwe is far from over. Not only does Zimbabwe have to combat the cholera outbreak, it now has to combat the anthrax outbreak. The anthrax outbreak could be equally devastating to the cholera outbreak. Thousands of cholera cases have already been reported. It is only a matter time before new cases of anthrax are reported.