Facing a Bio-Terrorism Threat
Source: San Francisco Gate
June 6, 2000
It’s a silent killer - and a hard one to catch.
Unlike bomb blasts, gunfire or even nerve gas,
biological terrorism is so subtle that infected people may never know
they are victims of a terrorist attack.
"Bio-terrorism is the most difficult kind of terrorism
to detect," said William Clark, a senior advisor on terrorism for the
U.S. Deparment of Health and Human Services. "There is no obvious
focal point for the incident. You don’t know you’ve been hit until
sick people start showing up at the doctors."
Clark’s comments came at a daylong conference on
bio-terrorism for health professionals at the Bill Graham Civic
Auditorium. The conference, sponsored by the San Francisco Department
of Public Health, gave a chilling overview of the challenges posed by
bio-terrorism.
In bio-terrorism, a political group or a hostile nation
can use disease - either from bacteria or viruses - as a weapon of
war.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union developed
deadly strains during the 1950s but have never been known to use them.
Most such weapons were destroyed in the 1980s after they were outlawed
by international treaties.
But the threat that such microbes could be used by
terrorist groups or rogue nations remains. There have been several
reports, including one last month on CNN in which Russian scientists
with experience in bio-weapons programs described how they had been
approached by groups interested in developing deadly diseases.
Most stories about biological terrorism have focused on
the threat of anthrax. But those who work in the field said the risk
of anthrax or smallpox being used by terrorists was small. Virtually
all known cases have been hoaxes, according to a report presented at
the conference. There were 81 hoaxes involving the anthrax virus
reported in the United States last year, according to a report whose
co-author is Jason Pate, a panelist and researcher with the Monterey
Institute on International Studies.
It is far easier for terrorists to obtain or develop
forms of bacteria such as salmonella or botulism to infect people,
according to experts. But viruses, such as smallpox and anthrax, are
rarer and harder for a civilian to obtain.
The largest act of biological terrorism in the United
States occurred in Oregon in 1984. Cult followers of Bhagwan Shree
Rajneesh pleaded guilty to the non-fatal poisoning of 750 people by
sprinkling salmonella bacteria in salad bars.
Clark described how last month authorities in
Washington, D.C., Portsmouth, N.H., and Denver participated in an
exercise involving mock attacks using chemical and biological agents.
In the Denver exercise, Clark said, local police who
tried to assist victims ended up getting infected themselves and then
passing the disease on to others.
Several speakers said bio-terrorism forced authorities
to change the rules when it came to responding to such threats.
"It doesn’t have to be in a city; it could happen in
rural areas too," said Gloria Teeters, a public health nurse from
Mendocino County. "I don’t think anyone can say it won’t happen here."
The participants included 252 people from about 35
organizations. Most were health professionals or emergency services
experts from counties, the state or federal government. Other
participants included a smattering of police, firefighters and
paramedics as well as representatives from the FBI, armed forces and
private health providers such as Kaiser.
Many audience members and panelists said the threat of
bio-terrorism was chilling and unnerving even for the experts.
"It’s scary," said John Fazio, an emergency room nurse
at San Francisco General Hospital. "I’m glad that we are planning for
this. The reality is that this can happen, but I sure hope that it
doesn’t."
The focus on terrorism is timely. The National
Commission on Terrorism presented Congress Monday with a report citing
America’s "lack of preparedness for a catastrophic terrorist attack
involving a biological agent, deadly chemicals or nuclear or
radiological materials."
©2000 San Francisco Examiner
by Jim Herron Zamora
Examiner Staff
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/2000/
06/06/NEWS7406.dtl
Originally printed by the Hearst Examiner on Page A-8