Bioterrorism National public health efforts to prepare for bioterrorism are focused on six diseases that potentially could kill millions of people, says Ronald Atlas, American Society for Microbiology president.
defense aims at
6 diseases
The illnesses could be
spread by air and kill
millions, an expert says
By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comAnthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia and viral hemorrhagic fevers, which could be spread by air, are listed in the top level of potential threats, he told Hawaii microbiologists, state and county officials yesterday.
It's impossible to predict the next threat, but smallpox may be the greatest one, Atlas said, noting Korea, Iran and Iraq are believed to be developing weapons of mass destruction.
"What you are not told is these three countries may have smallpox virus developed as a weapon. They could inflict mass casualties with smallpox. In many ways that's why it's the greatest threat." But he said there are so many possibilities, from smallpox and anthrax to poison spread through the air or contaminating food and water, "we really are challenged how to respond."
Atlas, co-director of the Center for Deterrence of Biowarfare and Bioterrorism at the University of Louisville, Ky., spoke at a forum on "Community Preparedness for the Bioterrorism Attack: The Role of Microbiologists. It was sponsored by the Hawaii Branch of the microbiology society, the Mayor's Office and Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
"If we have a bioterrorism event, it may not come with a loud bang," Atlas said. "It may come much the way we've seen SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) spreading, from one person to another, of unknown source," he said.
Atlas recalled the first bioterrorism attack in Oregon in the late 1980s. A cult wanted to win a political election and put a common strain of salmonella at salad bars so people would get sick and not vote, he said.
About 800 people became ill but survived, he said. "It took many years to find it was bioterrorism and not due to food poisoning."
As a crossroad between Asia and the mainland United States, Hawaii is vulnerable to introduction of infectious diseases but has "a degree of containment" as an island state, he said. The immediate threat from bioterrorism would be to the state's agricultural crops, he said.
Atlas, who serves on a National Academy of Science panel, said new tools are needed to detect bioterrorism agents and new drugs, vaccines and devices must be developed to address threats.
"The public will not and cannot wait for us to find future cures. They want them now, so it changes the whole way we do business," he said.
He said smallpox vaccine, being given to everyone in the military and offered to first public health and emergency responders, has not been made available to the public because it is a live vaccine with risks.
"If we were to vaccinate all Americans, we figure 400 to 1,400 would die of the vaccine. The question is, is the threat of an attack of smallpox high enough to kill 1,000 Americans and protect the rest?" He said scientists have an ethical obligation to share their knowledge with the public but they must do it responsibly to prevent public hysteria and misuse of the science by terrorists.