Hippos, Anthrax And Hunger Make A Deadly Mix
In Zambia, some people were so hungry that they risked their health to eat hippo meat infected with anthrax. Researchers say it reveals how food insecurity can spread disease.
A few years ago in Zambia, hippos were dropping dead by the dozens. Soon after the hippos fell ill, people started getting sick, too.
Between August and September of 2011, at least 85 hippos died in a game management area along the South Luangwa River near the border with Malawi. It turns out the hippos were the victims of anthrax, the same bacteria used in a series of letter attacks that killed five people in the weeks after Sept.
