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Bioterrorism fears still going strong

Emergency Management Alert, September 13, 2004

Medical experts still struggle with how to handle a widespread bioterrorism attack, particularly smallpox the Washington Post reported.

Concerns about security, lack of trained staff, and calming the public remain three years after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"We are better prepared, but are we prepared well enough? That depends on the nature of the smallpox outbreak," said Daniel Lucey, director of the Center for Biologic Counterterrorism and Emerging Diseases at Washington Hospital Center.

Few healthcare workers and first responders are vaccinated against smallpox. Only 40,000 of them received the vaccine-short of the initial 500,000 target, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.

Since an actual outbreak seems remote, people haven't voluneteered for vaccination due to risks, which includes a potentially fatal heart inflammation.

The lack of vaccinated medical workers means that vaccination of the public would be delayed during an outbreak. Health officials and emergency workers would receive vaccines first in that circumstance, said Julie Casani, director of public health preparedness and response for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

"We may choose to say it's important to vaccinate police, fire, and emergency medical services first," she said. "So if we have to say to a parent of four, 'You are going to have to come back tomorrow,' that's going to be hard for them to believe we are doing the right thing."

The CDC says it has enough smallpox vaccine for every U.S. citizen.

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