This is an exclusive report for RFI. In Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, a disease that disappeared decades ago has just reappeared. Nearly two years after the end of the civil war, which, according to the African Union, may have claimed up to 600,000 lives, anthrax killed at least four people a few weeks ago in the village of Belaeti, in the center of the region.
Donkeys, oxen, and aurochs still roam freely in the village. Yet it was from them that the danger came. Abratu Aynalem recounts how anthrax arrived in the village and killed his brother. “
A cow died. To help its poor owner, eight families bought the carcass… My brother fell ill three days after eating it. He developed black skin lesions on his neck and torso. Then he lost his speech, then his sight. It was terrifying. They took him to the capital’s big hospital, but he died the next day. ” Read more