ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Bioterrorism is a crime. But it's likely to show up first as a public-health issue. And state and federal health officials are busy drawing up emergency plans so they'll be able to cope if it ever happens.
Some of them met in Washington, D.C., last week to discuss bioterrorism, the deliberate unleashing of dangerous organisms or toxins that can cause illness and even death. In a separate conference this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FBI, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, public-health information officers, media representatives and others gathered in Florida to learn more about the threat, how to recognize it and what to do.
Unless someone claims responsibility, it might not be clear that a spate of illness was caused deliberately.
Biological terrorism can use bacteria, which sometimes respond to antibiotics; viruses, which may or may not respond to antiviral agents; and toxins, which may be treatable with antitoxins.
Numerous countries have experimented with substances that can be used for biological warfare. And the United States has stockpiled antidotes for some substances, including a vaccine for smallpox that hasn't been given to the public since 1972, when the disease was considered virtually eradicated. But smallpox causes public health officials some concern because it still exists and young Americans have never been vaccinated. There also is a question how long the vaccine given to older Americans would protect them.
Utah officials take the possibility of bioterrorism seriously, Dr. Charles D. Brokopp, director of Utah's Division of Epidemiology and Laboratory Services, said last week. The Health Department has been developing its own plans to deal with potential bioterrorism, in conjunction with other state and local agencies. But there's more to be done, he said.
In the United States, there's only been one documented case of bioterrorism. That occurred in The Dalles, Ore., in the fall of 1984 when adherents of the Baghwan Shree Rajneesh deliberately contaminated salad bars in 10 restaurants with salmonella. It was a trial run to see if they could use food poisoning to keep people away from the polls so they could take over the community politically.
Health officials at the time wondered about the possibility of a terrorist act but couldn't prove it and finally concluded that food handlers in the various restaurants were responsible for the contamination. No one died, but at least 715 people became ill. And one restaurant went out of business.
It was only when police arrested several members of the sect on a variety of charges that they learned the food had been deliberately contaminated, according to Dr. John Livengood, acting deputy associate director for science at the CDC, who was one of the CDC investigators on the case early in his career with the agency.
When West Nile fever hit New York City in 1999, killing several elderly people and sickening others, it took health officials awhile to determine that it was a mosquito-borne case of Mother Nature run amok. As health officials were dealing with the medical realities of the illness, the FBI and local police were investigating whether terrorism was involved.
And that's the way investigations of possible bioterrorism will go. The first hint of bioterrorism would show up as a cluster of illnesses with a high infection rate, an unusual geography and unexpected clinical presentation.
Epidemiologists would try to determine the origin of the illness, health officials would try to contain it and treat those who were stricken and, if it seemed warranted, law enforcement would work on a parallel track to determine if bioterrorism was involved and who was responsible. The FBI takes the lead in bioterrorism criminal investigations.
E-MAIL: lois@desnews.com