The reports mark the first major anthrax outbreak to hit the northern Kurdish area since the 1980s.

Ziryan Othman, the Kurdish health minister, said the cases were discovered in the northernmost province of Dahuk, Iranian Press TV reported. Thousands of chickens were killed in September in Dahuk in an effort to control an outbreak of the H9 strain of bird flu.

Officials in Dahuk are taking similar measures with the anthrax cases by slaughtering infected animals. The animal-borne anthrax strain affects the skin and not the lungs or internal organs of humans.

Meanwhile, Iraqi health officials in Baghdad said that of the 462 reported cases of cholera in the country, roughly 60 percent have inflicted children under 5 years old, the World Health Organization said.

The WHO said contaminated water is the culprit behind the latest outbreak, but said Iraqi officials had managed to contain its spread through early detection and awareness campaigns.

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