Authorities in Zambia have urged the public not to eat meat from wild animals found dead, after an anthrax outbreak killed dozens of wildlife and infected 12 people in the Munyamadzi River area. The outbreak matters because it highlights ongoing public health risks in a country where communities rely on wild meat for food, and where anthrax remains endemic but usually causes few human casualties.

Zambia's Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit reported that 46 hippos, eight elephants, five buffaloes and a crocodile have died since July in the Munyamadzi Game Management Area, with people eating the carcasses for food. No human deaths have been recorded so far, and the 12 people infected are receiving treatment, while officials have suspended hunting in the affected area and are carrying out surveillance and lab tests to determine the outbreak's extent. Anthrax, caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, can survive as soil spores for years and spreads to humans through contact with contaminated animal products; previous major outbreaks occurred in 2023 (four deaths) and 2011 (five deaths from infected hippo meat).