Anthrax outbreak kills cattle in NSW An outbreak of anthrax has killed 40 cattle in northwestern NSW, the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) says. "Bovine anthrax has been confirmed at two properties in Moree, northwest NSW," a spokesman said in a statement. Around 40 head of cattle have died as a result of the disease. He said the properties involved had been quarantined and all remaining cattle are now vaccinated. There had been no further reports of anthrax from either property since March 9 and the animals had not left the properties so the disease hasn't spread, the spokesman said. Anthrax outbreaks in NSW are usually confined to an "anthrax belt" running between Bourke and Moree in the north to Albury and Deniliquin in the south. Professor Julian Rood, from the Department of Microbiology at Monash University, said anthrax outbreaks were rare but not unusual. They occur from time to time. They are not occurring continually but every few years in various regions of NSW and Victoria you can get an outbreak," he said in a statement. Humans can pick up the disease from infected cattle by handling infected material, most commonly getting the skin form of the disease. "Importantly the disease does not spread from person to person," Prof Rood said. After an outbreak of disease the spores can enter the soil and then many years later infect another animal and make that animal sick, Prof Rood said.