It sounds like a scenario from a post-apocalyptic movie, but this is exactly what happened in Russia: on the arid plains of Siberia, several people contract a deadly bacteria during a dinner of horse meat, one of the guests begins to show symptoms, but almost everyone flees the hospital after he is hospitalized, alarming local authorities, which issues an alarm, reports futurism.com.

The events took place in Tuva, the home town of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, as TASS, one of Russia’s state news agencies, reported earlier this week:

“Four out of five patients infected with anthrax in Tuvinsk region in southern Siberia have left the local hospital where they were being treated, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the region’s Ministry of Health.”

Health authorities of Tuva claim that four patients “refused treatment for anthrax in an infectious disease hospital [din regiune] and voluntarily left the medical institution. One of the patients continues treatment.

The local branch of Rospozhivnadzor, Russia’s federal health care agency, was immediately notified of the situation, TASS reports.

What Russian officials say about the anthrax outbreak

Local health officials said all five infected patients were in a “satisfactory” condition, but noted that according to health regulations, they can only be discharged after all symptoms of the disease have cleared.

“Transmission from person to person [a antraxului] it is quite rare, but it is possible, especially if the rashes on the patients’ skin have not completely healed,” explained Rosspozhivnadzor.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Tuva reported that the first case of anthrax infection was detected in the village of Bizhiktig-Haya after a local resident visited a shepherd’s camp where 100 unvaccinated animals were kept.

Then, on July 6, the diagnosis of “anthrax” was confirmed in 4 more people, all of whom were sent to the regional infectious disease hospital for isolation.

“Anthrax is a particularly dangerous infectious disease that affects humans and mammals. The causative agent that causes it can remain in the soil in the form of spores for years,” the TASS agency reminds.

Russian propaganda has repeatedly referred to the danger of the spread of anthrax in Ukraine due to the unstable humanitarian situation in some conflict zones, but so far the Ukrainian authorities have not detected a single case.