Confronting the Health Threats of the Post-9/11 World

U.S. health official outlines progress against bioterrorism

FRIDAY, March 7, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- The 9/11 terrorist attacks transformed the landscape of medicine and public health policy in the United States.

The new goal now is to thwart the dangers of bioterrorism, one of the nation's leading health officials said today.

"The World Trade Center tragedy has shaped the destiny of us in this area of public health, and our previous efforts at dealing with bioterrorism have been remarkably accelerated," said Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Fauci is director of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He made his remarks at a symposium at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

The new priority is ensuring the safety of a diverse civilian population from the risks of deliberate exposure to smallpox, anthrax and other dangerous diseases by improving vaccines, antibiotics and the delivery of treatment in case of an attack, Fauci said. The National Institutes of Health now has a $1.5 billion annual budget, up from $275 million before Sept. 11, 2001.

The tasks ahead are daunting, Fauci told his audience of approximately 250 medical professionals, who were attending the symposium to celebrate Mount Sinai's 150th anniversary.

They include the logistical ramifications of coping with highly contagious microbes endangering large numbers of people.

For example, the anthrax that was sent in envelopes to senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Tom Daschle of South Dakota in the fall of 2001 "each contained three grams of anthrax spores that was of a very high quality. If that anthrax was put in the ventilation system of a subway, it could be a very serious situation," Fauci said.

Also, the impact of bioterrorism is as much psychological as physical, he said.

"There were 18 cases of anthrax poisoning and of those, five deaths," Fauci said. And while in no way diminishing the horror of those deaths, the psychological impact of the anthrax-by-mail campaign had wide implications for the general population, he said.

"Thirty thousand people received antibiotics, the incident effectively shut down the legislative branch of the government, and it was only yesterday that the post office in Brentwood [contaminated by the anthrax] was declared free of the anthrax spore.

"The biological impact was relatively minor, but the psychological impact was much, much larger. This is what we're dealing with with bio-terrorism," he said.

Health officials have made some solid progress, Fauci said.

The NIH has designated several pathogens as a high priority and is focusing research on developing safe vaccines. These "Category A" pathogens include smallpox, the bacteria that cause anthrax and plague, and the fever virus Ebola, Fauci said.

In addition, there's enough smallpox vaccine to inoculate the whole country, with another 100,000 shots left over. Work on a new, safer smallpox vaccine is in "Phase 1" trials with the Food and Drug Administration. And, among the older smallpox vaccines that have been given, primarily to military personnel, there have been few adverse reactions and no deaths, he said.

Research continues into genome sequencing to develop effective vaccines. Also in development are new technologies that will improve body imaging, enabling doctors to make molecular diagnosis of diseases, allowing earlier treatment, Fauci said.

The National Institute of Mental Health is also working on programs to alleviate post-traumatic stress related to bio-terrorism.

Fauci said the benefits of this new, focused research will be felt beyond the bio-terrorism arena. It will also help prevent public health disasters from naturally emerging microbes, like West Nile Virus, Avian Influenza, and of course, HIV, he said.

"These findings will be a boon for public health in general to treat diseases that will be with us for the duration of civilization," Fauci said.

More information

Commonly asked questions about smallpox can be found at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For more on the research being conducted on bio-terrorism, visit the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
www.healthday.com