US Biological Attack Said Inevitable February 4, 2000
Source: The Washington Post SAN DIEGO -- Terrorists will likely attack the United
States with the small pox or anthrax viruses within the next five to
10 years, says an expert who warns the country is unprepared.
"We are a long way away from being even modestly
prepared," D.A. Henderson, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for
Civilian Biodefense Studies, said Friday at a conference on
bioterrorism. "But we're doing a lot more now than we did 12 months,
or even 6 months ago."
The two-day conference brings together more than 300
physicians, scientists, public officials and law enforcement agents to
discuss possible ways to respond in the event of an attack.
"This is a problem that's going to have to be dealt with
at the local level," said Henderson, who was a leader in the effort to
eradicate smallpox and now is mobilizing health workers against
bioterrorism. "Doctors and nurses in emergency rooms will be the first
ones to see signs of an epidemic. They need to know how to deal with
it."
Bioterrorism is the release of deadly bacteria, viruses
or products of those agents. Those that pose the greatest threat are
smallpox, anthrax and plague because they have the potential to spread
quickly and cause large numbers of deaths.
Such an attack is expected in this country within the
decade, Henderson said, noting that some governments have stockpiles
of the agents. Fringe groups, meanwhile, have already launched attacks
elsewhere, including the deadly sarin nerve gas attack carried out by
a cult on a Tokyo subway in 1995 that killed 12 people.
Policy-makers know how to respond to chemical spills and
nuclear plant leaks, but those hazardous material plans won't work for
a bioterrorist attack, Henderson said.
"With a virus, signs aren't apparent for days or weeks,"
Henderson said. "The flu-like symptoms may get misdiagnosed until the
disease reaches an epidemic level."
With shortages of hospital space, vaccines and
antibiotics, "there would be chaos," he said.
But Margaret Hamburg, who helps direct a bioterrorism
initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, urged
people not to panic, saying the federal government has allocated
millions of dollars to help states prepared for bioterrorism.
"People shouldn't go to bed at night worrying about it,"
Hamburg said.
The United States hasn't vaccinated against smallpox
since the 1970s, and there's only enough vaccine left for 7.5 million
people and no factories to make more, Henderson said. The development
of an anthrax vaccine available to the public is another 5 years away,
he said.
© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press
By Michelle Williams
Associated Press Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/