The disease spread after the bull was culled in the republic's Barguzinsky Region in early July. The animal's meat was sold to the residents of four nearby villages without any checks being carried out.
A total of 11 people who came into contact with the meat were later hospitalized, of whom seven people were diagnosed with skin or intestinal anthrax. One person is in a serious condition. Another thirteen people are under medical surveillance.
A criminal case has been opened, and an investigation is underway.
Anthrax most commonly infects wild mammals and domestic cattle and sheep, which ingest or inhale the bacterial spores while grazing. Humans can be affected when exposed to body tissues of infected animals.
Anthrax spores can survive for long periods in the environment after their release. Russia has over 100,000 potentially dangerous sites, several of them in Buryatia.
