Investigations following a death from anthrax

14 November 2008

Following the announcement of the death of a patient from inhalation anthrax the Health Protection Agency have been carrying out testing at the patient's workshop in Hackney, where animal skin drums were made.
Testing was carried out to see whether there were traces of anthrax at the property and if any specialist cleaning was needed before it could be used again. Samples were taken from the property on Tuesday 4th November and tested at the Agency's specialist laboratories in Porton Down.
Results from these samples confirmed that anthrax was found on one of five drums in the property and also on some animal skins. No traces of anthrax were found in the other samples which were taken from a wide variety of places within the property.

Dr Brian McCloskey, Director of the Agency in the London Region said, "These results mean that we will not need to carry out wide scale specialist cleaning at the property. We have already taken the animal skins away and will be removing the drum early next week. We will then carry out some final checks and if all is well we will be able to hand the keys back to the owner"

"We have informed all residents of the local area about these results and have thanked them for their patience during this investigation"

Notes to Editors
1. For further information please contact the London press office on 0207 759 2824.
2. Anthrax is a disease caused by spores that live in the environment. It can cause a skin infection (cutaneous anthrax) or as in this case, inhalation anthrax, when the spores are inhaled into the lungs. Inhalation anthrax is very rare and is not passed from person to person. All individuals who may have been exposed to anthrax spores during the making of these drums have already been given antibiotics to prevent them from becoming ill.

3. Despite the popularity of African drumming in the UK and elsewhere over recent years, cases of anthrax associated with these activities are very rare.
4. A single case of cutaneous (skin) anthrax associated with a goat hide bongo drum purchased in Haiti occurred in 1974: this is the only such case ever reported. Since then rare cases of cutaneous anthrax have occurred as a result of making drums from untanned animal hides.
5. A case of inhalation anthrax occurred in 2006 in America in a man who made drums from dried (but otherwise untreated) animal hides brought in from West Africa. A recent case occurred in Scotland in 2006 in a man who made and played drums from imported animal hides.
6. Anthrax infections associated with the handling of untanned animal hides are now extremely rare in the UK. Imported animal hides from countries where anthrax is endemic in animals (for example, in Africa and Asia) pose a higher risk for exposure than domestic (UK origin) hides.
7. Strict regulations are in place for the importation of animal hides. These can be accessed at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/int-trde/imports/iins/hide/bp5b.htm
8. For further information about animal hide drums and anthrax please to go: http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733752819?p=1191942145753 or,
http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpr/archives/2008/news4508.htm#anthrax

Last reviewed: 14 November 2008