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Hospitals, Public Health System Not Prepared For Bioterrorism By a number of indicators, the U.S. public health and hospital systems are "woefully" unprepared to deal with a possible bioterrorist attack, the Wall Street Journal reports. Even before last week's attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, government officials were assessing the nation's preparedness against terrorist, biological or chemical attacks. While the likelihood of such an attack is debatable, the potential consequences are so severe that many experts believe it warrants greater attention. If, for example, a smallpox or anthrax organism were released in a heavily populated area, it could lead to an epidemic that would sicken thousands of people and "severely stress" the health-care system "for weeks or months." According to the Journal, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has been "quietly" intensifying efforts to increase awareness of and improve response efforts to a possible biochemical emergency, but the public health infrastructure "remains more a tattered web than sturdy safety net." One problem lies in the focus among hospitals on "just-in-time" inventory control, which results in having just enough supplies on hand to satisfy short-term need-and an inadequate supply in the event of a public health crisis. Says one terrorism expert, "We have a medical system that is finely tuned to peacetime … there is no excess capacity in the medical system because it's designed that way. We're going to have to find what excess capacity is necessary and pay for the day-to-day availability so we can have it when we need it." Push to improve readiness To strengthen the nation's ability to withstand a bioterrorist assault, the Journal reports that the U.S. is focusing on preventing smallpox and ensuring adequate supplies of antibiotics. With stockpiles of an older-generation smallpox vaccine down to just 12 million doses, HHS is paying U.K. biotechnology company Acambis $43 million to produce 40 million doses of a new vaccine. This new vaccine isn't expected until 2004, but one physician and public health expert says it may be possible to accelerate production. In another effort, the CDC is spending some $50 million a year to build supplies of antibiotics that can be used to treat the major diseases that have been the focus of known biological weapons projects. Just hours after Tuesday's attacks, the CDC emailed state and local health departments pressing them to "sharpen their surveillance skills" and to report any outbreaks immediately. No unusual illnesses have been reported thus far More on Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Medical Information and Resources |
