At least 17 people died of anthrax in a southern Ugandan district in November, a local official told AFP on Thursday, adding that "the situation is under control".

The Bacillus anthracis bacterium, which survives for decades in the form of spores in land where animals that have died of anthrax or carried the disease have been buried in the past, is transmissible to humans and potentially fatal in its rarest forms.

In the Kyotera district of southern Uganda, some 180 kilometers from the capital Kampala, "17 people died" in November from anthrax, the district's health officer, Dr. Edward Muwanga, told AFP. These people "are suspected of having eaten meat from the farm where the animals had contracted the disease", he added.

"We are working with teams from the Ministry of Health in Kampala and the World Health Organization (WHO) who are on the ground to help contain the situation and it is under control," said Mr. Muwanga.