http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011104/ts/attack_anthrax_dc_180.html
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Full
CoverageSunday
November 4 9:17 PM ET
Medical Workers Vaccinated Against Smallpox
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By Brian Williams
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, fearful of a bioterrorism attack similar
to the anthrax scare sweeping the country, said on Sunday key front-line
medical workers were being vaccinated against smallpox.
While stressing there were no present signs of a smallpox outbreak,
officials for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news
- web
sites) said a crash training program was also under way to teach doctors
and other health workers nationwide about a disease eradicated throughout the
world in 1981.
The smallpox precautions briefly took the spotlight off anthrax
contamination that has killed four people since it surfaced a month ago in
Florida.
``We have been, for several years, trying to upgrade our capabilities for
bioterrorism and those of state and local health departments,'' CDC Director
Jeffrey Koplan said.
``However, since September 11, we've certainly accelerated that,'' Koplan
told CNN's Late Edition.
``We have increased the number of people we have who are capable, trained
and ready to go out to investigate smallpox outbreaks should they occur.''
CDC officials said dozens of medical workers were receiving smallpox
vaccinations.
The New York Times put the number at about 140.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (news
- web
sites), said those being vaccinated were people who would be called on to
go into action at the first sign of a smallpox outbreak.
``You vaccinate what we call the first responders, the people that are going
to have to go out into the field, do the examination, do the isolation, do the
quarantine. You've got to get them vaccinated,'' Fauci told ``Face the Nation''
on CBS.
``We must be prepared for the use of smallpox as a bioterrorism weapon,''
Fauci added.
The smallpox virus, a highly infectious disease characterized by a rash and
high fever, is known to exist only in laboratories in the United States and
Russia.
Intelligence services suspect some other nations, including Iraq and North
Korea (news
- web
sites), may also have stocks.
Asked if there were plans for a wider vaccination against smallpox, Koplan
replied: ``Not at this time. Our intention and the Department of Health and
Human Services (news
- web
sites)' intention is to have enough vaccine available so, should we need to
use it, anyone who would need it could get it.''
ANTHRAX CROSS-CONTAMINATION
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On the anthrax front, two new sites of contamination
showed up, but it appeared they were both cases of cross-contamination and
there were no new reports of infection.
In New York, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (news
- web
sites) said on Sunday a tape sent by NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw's office to
City Hall had come back positive in preliminary tests for anthrax.
Giuliani told reporters an aide, Tony Carbonetti, had handled the tape and
after news broke last month about Brokaw's assistant having contracted anthrax,
the tape was sent for testing.
``Tony handled the tape ... and they sent it off for testing several times
and it came back as positive,'' Giuliani said.
Officials said the positive test was likely a case of cross-contamination as
the tape picked up spores from NBC's offices and was then sent, unwittingly, to
City Hall.
Environmental tests at City Hall have come back negative, and no one there
has tested positive for anthrax so far.
In Washington, a House of Representatives office building where anthrax was
found in the offices of three congressmen on Oct. 26 was given the green light
to reopen for business on Monday after being given a clean bill of health,
police said.
Lt. Dan Nichols, spokesman for the U.S. Capitol Police, said the Longworth
House Office Building, which contains the offices of numerous House members and
committees, would be open except for the three offices where trace amounts of
anthrax were found. Those were in the offices of Democratic Reps. John Baldacci
of Maine and Rush Holt of New Jersey and Republican Rep. Mike Pence (news
- bio
- voting
record) of Indiana.
Also in Washington, five mail workers were put on antibiotics at the
Veterans Affairs Medical Center after anthrax was found in the mailroom there.
Fauci said it was ``extremely unlikely'' any of the 200 patients at the
medical center could pick up the bacteria as long as it was contained to the
mailroom.
The hospital receives its mail from Washington's Brentwood facility, where
two postal workers died from inhaled anthrax last month.
In another Washington-area case, conclusive results of anthrax tests on a
suspicious package found in a private car in the Washington suburb of Bethesda,
Maryland, were not expected until Tuesday.
The number of confirmed anthrax cases in the United States has reached 17,
of which seven have been skin anthrax and 10 have been the more serious inhaled
type. Four of the people infected with inhaled anthrax have died.
Baffled U.S. investigators have said that despite more than 1,000 leads,
they are no closer to finding out who is responsible for the deadly mail
assault that started after the Sept. 11 plane attacks on the United States.
ALL
INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR
GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE
KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED
AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO
VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU
ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.