By Sharon Salyer
Herald Writer
A bioterrorism attack affecting 20 or more people could outstrip the Snohomish Health District’s ability to adequately respond to the emergency, Dr. M. Ward Hinds, who heads the public health agency, warned Tuesday.
He promised to speed up the development of plans to improve response to bioterrorism attacks through steps such as improved monitoring and investigation of suspicious diseases and better communication systems to link the health agency with area doctors and hospitals.
He said the plan should be ready next month.
"We have excellent capacity to investigate small disease outbreaks" affecting 10 to 20 people, Hinds told the health district board, made up of city council members from throughout the county and members of the Snohomish County Council.
"Anything of larger size would outstrip our ability" to respond, he said. "If we really want to be ready to respond to a high level event, then we need to build in capacity."
Five to six additional employees may be needed to step up disease surveillance, find alternate ways to communicate with hospitals if phones aren’t working and quickly investigate how people came into contact with germs used in a bioterrorism attack, Hinds said.
Neighboring public health agencies, the state Health Department and federal health authorities also would likely be tapped for help, he said.
Last week, the state Health Department offered $10,000 in federal money to help the Snohomish Health District begin planning a bioterrorism response, Hinds said.
The public health agency now has two nurses who monitor disease outbreaks in a county of 600,000 people, noted Rick Mockler, deputy administrator.
Bioterrorism is the deliberate spread of dangerous and sometimes deadly viruses and bacterial germs to cause a disease outbreak. For example, the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist cult spread the deadly nerve gas sarin on the Tokyo subway system in 1995, injuring 3,800 people, nearly 1,000 of whom were hospitalized. Twelve died.
But a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that the group investigated and, in some cases, attempted to infect people with other dangerous biological agents as well, including botulism toxin, anthrax, cholera and Q fever.
Smallpox is another disease often mentioned as a possible bioterrorism weapon. One of the most-asked questions by the public is the availability of anthrax and smallpox vaccine, Hinds said.
The smallpox shot is not available to the general public, Hinds said. The CDC has 15 million doses in storage and another 40 million doses have been ordered by the federal health agency, which should be ready within the next year.
Routine smallpox vaccinations stopped in 1972. Few people younger than 29 have been vaccinated. The effectiveness of the shot for those who have been vaccinated has likely worn off. "I’m afraid most of us are no longer immune," Hinds said.
Since smallpox is a virus, antibiotics cannot be used to treat it, Hinds said. Its symptoms include fever, headaches, backache and a rash. The disease lasts two to three weeks and kills about one-third of those who are infected.
Anthrax symptoms are similar, beginning with fever, a cough and muscle aches. If the disease attacks the pulmonary system, it is almost always fatal, he said. Immunizations, which are not now available to the public, require six shots over 18 months.
"It’s more difficult than people think to take these (anthrax) spores and turn them into a weapon," Hinds said. "That’s the good news. …The risk may be overestimated by the public."
You can call Herald Writer Sharon Salyer at 425-339-3486
or send e-mail to salyer@heraldnet.com.
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