Anthrax Surfaces in UK Anthrax outbreak casts shadow Anthrax found in Wiltshire cow herd Military may vaccinate 1.5 million troops against anthrax. Spores of the anthrax bacteria, lying inert in the soil, are thought to have been disturbed by ditch-dredging work on Storridge Farm, near Westbury in Wiltshire, where three cattle have died of the disease since early June.
Anthrax is one of the deadliest and oldest diseases known to man.
It can infect human beings as well as livestock and, although it is extremely rare in Britain, in its most severe form is nearly always fatal if not treated promptly with antibiotics. Local people fear that the spores might have been carried along a stream from an abandoned leather works on the outskirts of Westbury, where infected hides are said to have been buried in the past. The former tannery is on a 50-acre site, mostly now farmland, that has been earmarked for development. West Wiltshire District Council is considering a proposal to build 800 homes, a superstore and a primary school. Concern voiced by Mrs Irving led the council's plan ning committee to defer a decision on the housing scheme and to ask Persimmon Homes, the development company, to analyse soil and water at the site.