Anthrax in Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), Italy

To the Editor: Anthrax is hypoendemic in Italy; a few outbreaks occurred yearly involving unvaccinated herbivores on pastures in central and southern regions and the major islands. Multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) with 8 variable-number tandem repeats (VNTRs) of Italian isolates of Bacillus anthracis has identified 9 genotypes belonging to cluster A1a (1). An isolate of cluster A3 has been identified recently in Sardinia, which suggests that such a strain could have been introduced into Italy from another country (1).