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SubjectType: No Catagory
From:
Date: 08 Nov 2001
Time: 20:27:58
Remote Name: 10.10.16.72
A 75 minute national audio conference to review the current issues in bioterrorism preparedness, with particular emphasis on healthcare facilities. Nationally there were 1660 'attendees'.
The speaker was Michael T. Osterhold, Ph.D. MPH - Director of the Center For Infectious Disease Research and Policy and Professor, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota. He's apparently relatively well known and has been in demand by those in Washington DC and the news media.
The basic outline of his presentation was similar to ones he has been presenting for the past several years, however things have changed since Sept 11th and so the threats seem a bit more relevant now.
While there is no direct evidence of a relationship between the Anthrax in the mail and the terrorists that acted on the 11th, it is now clear that someone is using 'very high quality, weapons grade' Anthrax to terrorize the US. Dr. Osterhold believes that this is just one of the current dangers.
The Anthrax used might have been produced by a large number of people as there are currently 453 worldwide repositories in 67 nations listed in the World Directory of Collections of Cultures and Microorganisms - 54 of which sell/ship anthrax - 18 sell/ship Plague. Even after Sept 11th it was possible to purchase organisms over the internet. National legislation is pending but it must deal with the fact that there are a large number of worthy labs that need access to these materials.
Anthrax that has been 'weaponized' and used in some of the recent exposures in Washington DC. What this means is that the spores have been ground down to 1-5 micron size and additives that make it more easily aerosolized have been added. In this situation the spores behave similarly to a gas and do not easily settle out of the air. This creates a problem with containment and environmental testing. A test in the 1960's found that this material can spread through out a 15 story building within 15 minutes, however on the bright side, it also was gone (undetectable) within 30 minutes.
Dr. Osterholm also discussed the dangers of smallpox as a biological weapon. Smallpox has a mortality rate of 30% in susceptible populations and is extremely communicable.
The Journal of the American Medical Association has made some very good information available free of charge on the agents and treatments of possible agents of bioterrorism. If you are interested I'd highly recommend looking at the available articles.
Dr. Osterhold also discussed some of the current and future measures being taken against this threat. He also recommended the CDC website and his own organization's website as good sources of up-to-date information. He also had a question and answer session.
If you'd like more information on the audio conference please feel free to email me or contact APIC who is actually going to rebroadcast the conference over the phone (703 925 2533 pin 5582287 for more info)
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