The store of a 69-year-old woman, who died of anthrax after getting infected by a sheep, has been closed, Darik News reported.

The woman's family owned a food store where they sold pre-packed goods and regional health inspectors have closed it to avoid the virus from spreading.

Inspectors will have to disinfect the store first before they open it again. Investigation into the case of the anthrax-stricken woman show that her family had lots of livestock - nineteen sheep, one ram and one lamb. The lamb was not vaccinated because they planned on slaughtering it.

When they did so in the middle of July the meat was packed and stored in two fridges. The fridges have been sealed and the meat will be destroyed but the family has already consumed some of it.

The deceased and her daughter were the ones that handled the meat and people they had close contact with have been vaccinated.

Health inspectors are now taking samples from the area to make sure they have contained the infection.

The woman was first hospitalised because of heart attack symptoms. After she ran temperature, the doctors realized it was an infection.

The diagnosis of anthrax has been confirmed by microbiologists from Sofia. Experts say there is no risk of a wider outbreak of the disease.

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by spore-forming bacteria and is highly lethal in some forms. It is most common in domestic and wild animals. Humans can get affected if they are exposed to infected animals or tissue from infected animals.

There are no known cases of infection in humans resulting from direct contact with a diseased person.

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