Bioterrorism

Sooner or later there is going to be a biological terrorist attack in a major populated area. Are the emergency service personnel and hazardous materials teams in your area ready to respond?

It begins with a letter to the newspaper. A terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the anthrax attack that happened in recent days. Not a person around noticed the small plane buzzing around the town, scattering the seemingly harmless dust cloud over the population

Scenario one: thousands are killed in the panic as thousands of people flee the area. Another one hundred thousand inhale anthrax spores. Antibiotics are rushed in, but the hospitals are overwhelmed and not everyone receives treatment. Most of the country's limited stock of anthrax vaccine has already been given to soldiers. Emergency crews provide little help, as there are only six germ-warfare suits in the entire area. Hundreds of thousands of the areas residents die within days.

Scenario two: in the day after the attack, citizens seal their doors and windows with germ-proof tape. They listen to the radio for instructions, their gas masks, drugs and disinfectants ready. Very few people panic, aiding the overworked rescue personnel with a lighter caseload. When the personnel with sensors around the city confirm that the cloud contains anthrax spores, hospitals receive the appropriate antibiotics and vaccines. Trained emergency teams with germ-proof suits and tents set up in the places where weather analyses show the deadly cloud will drift. With advance preparation and rapid response only 10,000 people die.

A terrorist who plans to drop anthrax over a major city tomorrow can count on causing wide spread panic and death. The question facing rescuers now is: how do we move toward the second scenario and a more organized response?

With weapons of mass destruction so readily available, how can our government protect us from a terrorist armed with anthrax, smallpox or plague? Until now, most biological defense strategies have been geared to protecting soldiers on the battlefield rather than ordinary people in cities. The situations are quite different, and novel technologies are needed for civilian defense.

Suppose a person stumbled across a time bomb filled with anthrax on an underground railway platform. Until this year, no police force in the world would have had any way to disarm such a device safely. One novel solution that attracted attention was a tent full of antiseptic foam. Researchers have developed a dome-shaped tent made of Mylar that can be filled with stiff foam that kills germs and also neutralizes chemical weapons. Once covered by the foam-filled tent, the bomb can be safely detonated.

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