Health authorities in Bulgaria have refuted earlier suspicions that two people taken ill over the weekend in the region of northern town of Razgrad suffer from anthrax.

During last week, five sheep from the same herd in the Razgrad village of Brestovene died, while doctors reported that their 64-year-old owner and shepherd, Mehmed Ismail, and his 8-year-old grandson, Yozzhan, are showing signs of skin anthrax.

Monday the Razgrad Regional Inspectorate on Safety and Control of Public Health announced that the diagnosis of Ismail and his grandson was not confirmed by a further specialist in infectious diseases and that the sample sent to the laboratory in Shumen did not confirm anthrax. A further sample has been sent to the national laboratory in Sofia, and results are still outstanding.

Antibiotics were nevertheless prescribed to the shepherd and his family for prevention.

Authorities moreover ordered the vaccination of all 1 200 sheep and 400 cattle in the Brestovene village while the place where the sheep are kept had been treated with penicillin.

Meanwhile, a shepherd from the southern village of Stefan Karadzhovo is listed at the hospital in Yambol after being diagnosed with a form of skin anthrax.

Georgi Drosev, 47, became infected after slaughtering a sick sheep. He says no one ate meet and he discarded the carcass in a ravine near the village. Doctors report the man is in good condition and will be released next week.

Herbivores in Stefan Karadzhovo are also undergoing vaccination.