Russia's health minister says there is no threat of an outbreak of anthrax spreading beyond the Yamalo-Nenets region, where it has killed one person and infected at least 20 others.
Veronika Skvortsova said on August 2 that the anthrax outbreak was "under control and we hope it soon stabilizes and subsides."
Russian officials said the outbreak killed a 12-year-old boy in the region in northwestern Siberia and that 20 more people have been diagnosed with the bacterial disease.
Officials in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district said on August 2 that a total of 90 residents were undergoing hospital checks.
Skvortsova said the Emergency Situations Ministry had set up 80 tents to organize a camp for those stricken or perhaps at risk because of the outbreak.
PHOTO GALLERY: Reindeer Herders Vs. Oil Companies
Other families have been evacuated from the infection hot spot.
The outbreak, which officials say was fueled by a heat wave, has killed more than 2,300 reindeer in recent days in the remote region 2,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow, where indigenous nomadic people traditionally herd reindeer.
The office of Governor Dmitry Kobylkin said all reindeer in the area had been vaccinated and the deaths had stopped.
