HEALTH officials investigating the anthrax death of a Scot yesterday ordered the closure of a village hall after spores of the killer disease were found.
A concert planned for Smailholm Village Hall, Roxburghshire, last night was switched to the nearby parish church hall. NHS Borders said the 100-capacity stone hall would be closed until it is decontaminated.
The hall was among a number of properties tested in the Borders for anthrax after the death in July of Pascal Norris, 50, who lived 30 miles away in Stobs near Hawick.
He made bongo drums using animal skins as a pastime. The hall was used by a Smailholm woman for classes in African drum playing.
Village hall secretary Kathleen Daniels said: "Everyone is quite relaxed about the whole thing. They do not want it used and we are happy to go along with it. No-one is unduly worried - as someone in the village said, there are probably more anthrax spores in your garden than in the hall.
"After they have decontaminated it, we will have the cleanest village hall in the Borders."
A spokesman for NHS Borders said: "Minute traces of anthrax spores have been detected in Smailholm Village hall. As a precaution, the village hall will be closed.
"Expert advice is that the risk to the public is extremely low and no further actions are required."
Scientists wearing protective white suits have conducted tests at a house in Smailholm, near Kelso, and last month minute quantities of anthrax were found on two animal skins and three African drums at a property in Northumberland.
Following Mr Norris's death at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in July, the first death from anthrax in Britain for more than 30 years, 174 people were contacted and assessed for risk of infection. Of them 71 were given prophylactic antibiotics.
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