Nizhny Novgorod - Quarantine has been declared in a village in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan in the southwest Urals after several humans were infected with anthrax, a spokesman for the consumer rights regulator said on Friday.

Rospotrebnadzor said the measures were announced after 10 residents of the village, Ural, located in the Yanaulsky district, were hospitalized on Wednesday.

The spokesman said the residents fell ill after eating meat from an infected horse that had been killed two weeks earlier without any veterinary tests. The meat has been destroyed, and specialists are looking into how the horse became infected.

Livestock has been banned from entering or leaving the village, and all local meat retail has been suspended.

Anthrax affects both wild mammals and domestic cattle that ingest or inhale the bacterial spores while grazing.

The spores can survive dormant in soil for decades. Humans can contract the disease if they are exposed to the blood or tissue of infected animals.