More than 50 people have been hospitalized with symptoms of the potentially lethal disease in Kyrgyzstan's Osh and Jalal-Abad regions, said Jalalidin Gaubulin, chief doctor at the national center for infectious diseases.
Earlier reports said the people were taken to hospital after eating contaminated beef.
Outbreaks of anthrax are relatively common in the Central Asian state. Owners of sick cattle have been known to sell meat from infected animals after culling them, bypassing veterinary checks.
In early June, one man died of anthrax in Jalal-Abad.
Anthrax affects both wild mammals and domestic cattle that ingest or inhale the bacterial spores while grazing. Humans can contract the disease if they are exposed to the blood or tissue of infected animals.
Anthrax can be highly lethal, but in some forms responds well to antibiotic treatment.
