Reasonable Rascal
09-26-01, 11:02
September 22, 2001 1:42 am
No one knows how real the threat of a chemical or biological attack is, especially after last week's terrorist strikes against the United States.
But Dr. David P. Goldman, director of the Rappahannock Area Health District, wants area medical providers to be prepared.
He spoke to a group of about 30 health-care professionals yesterday at Mary Washington Hospital.
"In light of what happened last week, there's no way I'm going to say it couldn't happen," Goldman said. "I think it's a possibility. If I didn't, I wouldn't be giving these talks."
Goldman is a member of the state Health Department's Terrorism Task Force. Formed in October 1998, its job is to plan a response to a terrorist incident involving biological or chemical agents.
The task force, using guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has developed a method to query hospital workers about patients with symptoms that could indicate they are victims of biological warfare, said Dr. Robert Stroube, Virginia's deputy health commissioner.
"We're looking for people who show up in emergency rooms with unexplained fevers, encephalitis or meningitis flu symptoms," Stroube said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Within an hour after the second plane hit the World Trade Center, Stroube said he sent canvassers to hospitals in the Northern Virginia area who inquire daily about the number and type of unexplained or suspicious symptoms.
Hospitals outside the Washington metropolitan area, including Mary Washington, are being asked to provide the same information to the health department.
The Fredericksburg hospital kept watch for unexplained symptoms this summer when the health department was testing its biological warfare surveillance system during the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill.
Normally, hospitals are only required to report certain ailments, such as meningitis. That's what Goldman was originally scheduled to talk about at Mary Washington yesterday.
Goldman decided to use the opportunity to make sure local doctors are aware of what diseases such as anthrax and smallpox look like and are on the lookout for them. Anthrax bacteria causes black skin ulcers; smallpox is a virus characterized by vomiting, fever and skin blisters.
While results of a chemical strike, with nerve gases that attack the central nervous system, would be quickly apparent, results of biological warfare would be less obvious--at least at first.
Symptoms for anthrax and smallpox will at first resemble those of a common flu or stomach ailment, Goldman said-symptoms such as fever, cough, back pain, vomiting, general malaise.
"If someone comes to you with these symptoms in December through March in Virginia, they'll likely leave with reassurance, perhaps an antibiotic," he said. "They may even have a short period of recovery. But when they come back, they will be very sick, and by that time, it may be too late."
In biological warfare, there would likely be deaths before medical professionals even realize there's been an attack. "The first 10, or even several dozen, may go home and be casualties," Goldman said. "But we will recognize they have been victims and can treat the next wave of people."
And most diseases, with the exception of Ebola, can be treated relatively well if they are caught early.
That's where Goldman stresses the importance of doctors reporting anything strange to the health department.
"Each of you seeing one or two people with unusual symptoms might not mean anything to the individual practitioner," he said. "But if we at the health department have the information, we can find out there are 10 cases of something in the community. You can help us be alert to the fact that something is going on."
Clues that may signal bioterrorism include:
Higher-than-usual death rate for a common disease or failure of patients to respond to traditional treatments, suggesting the possibility of hybrid organisms resistant to treatment.
Many sick people seeking treatment at the same time.
An unusual pattern of death or illness in animals preceding or accompanying illness and death in humans.
Diseases with an unusual geographic or seasonal distribution, such as an outbreak of influenza in the summer.
An illness that is unusual for a given population or age group, such as chicken pox in adults.
Local doctors seemed interested, but not surprised or alarmed by Goldman's presentation.
"We still have a lot to learn," Goldman said. "I think last week is an example where something will happen that had been previously unimaginable, but you learn from it."
But that doesn't mean people should lock themselves in their houses with gas masks. Goldman said his office has received two inquiries since the Sept. 11 attacks about what might be the best gas mask to buy. He said his office does not dispense that kind of advice.
"I think the president's point the last 10 days is that we certainly want to be cautious and prudent," he said. "A lot of terrorism is psychological--striking fear into people's hearts. We don't want to run around like Chicken Little, but we want to be prepared."
--Staff writer Ruth Finch contributed to this report.
Copyright 2001 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.
No one knows how real the threat of a chemical or biological attack is, especially after last week's terrorist strikes against the United States.
But Dr. David P. Goldman, director of the Rappahannock Area Health District, wants area medical providers to be prepared.
He spoke to a group of about 30 health-care professionals yesterday at Mary Washington Hospital.
"In light of what happened last week, there's no way I'm going to say it couldn't happen," Goldman said. "I think it's a possibility. If I didn't, I wouldn't be giving these talks."
Goldman is a member of the state Health Department's Terrorism Task Force. Formed in October 1998, its job is to plan a response to a terrorist incident involving biological or chemical agents.
The task force, using guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has developed a method to query hospital workers about patients with symptoms that could indicate they are victims of biological warfare, said Dr. Robert Stroube, Virginia's deputy health commissioner.
"We're looking for people who show up in emergency rooms with unexplained fevers, encephalitis or meningitis flu symptoms," Stroube said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Within an hour after the second plane hit the World Trade Center, Stroube said he sent canvassers to hospitals in the Northern Virginia area who inquire daily about the number and type of unexplained or suspicious symptoms.
Hospitals outside the Washington metropolitan area, including Mary Washington, are being asked to provide the same information to the health department.
The Fredericksburg hospital kept watch for unexplained symptoms this summer when the health department was testing its biological warfare surveillance system during the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill.
Normally, hospitals are only required to report certain ailments, such as meningitis. That's what Goldman was originally scheduled to talk about at Mary Washington yesterday.
Goldman decided to use the opportunity to make sure local doctors are aware of what diseases such as anthrax and smallpox look like and are on the lookout for them. Anthrax bacteria causes black skin ulcers; smallpox is a virus characterized by vomiting, fever and skin blisters.
While results of a chemical strike, with nerve gases that attack the central nervous system, would be quickly apparent, results of biological warfare would be less obvious--at least at first.
Symptoms for anthrax and smallpox will at first resemble those of a common flu or stomach ailment, Goldman said-symptoms such as fever, cough, back pain, vomiting, general malaise.
"If someone comes to you with these symptoms in December through March in Virginia, they'll likely leave with reassurance, perhaps an antibiotic," he said. "They may even have a short period of recovery. But when they come back, they will be very sick, and by that time, it may be too late."
In biological warfare, there would likely be deaths before medical professionals even realize there's been an attack. "The first 10, or even several dozen, may go home and be casualties," Goldman said. "But we will recognize they have been victims and can treat the next wave of people."
And most diseases, with the exception of Ebola, can be treated relatively well if they are caught early.
That's where Goldman stresses the importance of doctors reporting anything strange to the health department.
"Each of you seeing one or two people with unusual symptoms might not mean anything to the individual practitioner," he said. "But if we at the health department have the information, we can find out there are 10 cases of something in the community. You can help us be alert to the fact that something is going on."
Clues that may signal bioterrorism include:
Higher-than-usual death rate for a common disease or failure of patients to respond to traditional treatments, suggesting the possibility of hybrid organisms resistant to treatment.
Many sick people seeking treatment at the same time.
An unusual pattern of death or illness in animals preceding or accompanying illness and death in humans.
Diseases with an unusual geographic or seasonal distribution, such as an outbreak of influenza in the summer.
An illness that is unusual for a given population or age group, such as chicken pox in adults.
Local doctors seemed interested, but not surprised or alarmed by Goldman's presentation.
"We still have a lot to learn," Goldman said. "I think last week is an example where something will happen that had been previously unimaginable, but you learn from it."
But that doesn't mean people should lock themselves in their houses with gas masks. Goldman said his office has received two inquiries since the Sept. 11 attacks about what might be the best gas mask to buy. He said his office does not dispense that kind of advice.
"I think the president's point the last 10 days is that we certainly want to be cautious and prudent," he said. "A lot of terrorism is psychological--striking fear into people's hearts. We don't want to run around like Chicken Little, but we want to be prepared."
--Staff writer Ruth Finch contributed to this report.
Copyright 2001 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.