Two cases of anthrax in the U.S. from African animal hides

Two cases of anthrax have been reported in the U.S. and the culprit again appears to be African animal hides.

Authorities say a musician and another family member living in Connecticut have contracted cutaneous anthrax poisoning from animal hides that they were using to make African drums.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cutaneous anthrax is a type of anthrax that is not contagious and can be treated with a series of antibiotics.

A person who has cutaneous anthrax will experience a reddening and swelling of the skin; there usually are only one to two cases each year in the United States.

The two apparently contracted the cutaneous anthrax from the imported skins which were used to make the drums.

According to local Mayor Mark Boughton, the roads have been closed around the victim's house in Danbury but the man's identity is being withheld.

Authorities say the case is not terrorism-related and state public health officials are handling the investigation.

Reports suggest that officials have taken at least 12 animal hides from a shed on the man's property but as the drums were unfinished it is not thought that the anthrax has spread any further.

Another case which occurred in February 2006 also involved anthrax poisoning from handling African drums made with goat skin.

In that case a 44-year-old Manhattan man collapsed after performing with his dance company in Pennsylvania and was hospitalised for a number of weeks.

He had experienced flu-like symptoms in January after traveling to the Ivory Coast to buy goat hides to make drums; in that case health officials believed he may have inhaled anthrax spores while making the instruments.

According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, inhaled anthrax infects the lungs and kills about 75 percent of those with the infection.