Anthrax scares call for education
By HELENA PAYNE
Assistant News Editor
The threat of domestic terrorism in the U.S. has become a more imposing reality since the attacks of Sept. 11. The suspect use of biological warfare against Americans through anthrax has only heightened the sense of fear.
Although, this acute infectious disease can be deadly, medical and political experts caution people not to panic, but to be attentive to and educated about the issue.
Dr. Nancy Cole, a microbiologist for the South Bend Medical Center, said people should know that anthrax is caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis which, in many cases, can be treated with variants of penicillin.
"It's important first of all for [people] to understand the facts," said Cole. "[Anthrax] is very unlikely to be passed from one individual to another. There is an aspect in which people may be fearful that they don't have to worry about."
Anthrax grows in human tissue through the means of spores. As the bacteria grows and replicates the life cycle, it also releases toxins. These toxins can cause the two major effects seen in patients who have come in contact with anthrax: edema, or a build-up of fluid in the tissue, and hemorrhage, or internal bleeding.
People can come in contact with the bacteria through cutaneous anthrax which enters the skin through inhalation or through gastrointestinal means. The way to recognize the more common form of cutaneous anthrax is by lesions that resemble dark pits on the skin's surface.
In cases of anthrax inhalation, fluid fills up in the lungs causing symptoms similar to pneumonia accompanied with severe coughing and serious respiratory tract illness.
"It's not a different disease to treat, except that if the spores are in the lungs by the time [the anthrax is diagnosed], you basically already have so much damage to the tissue, you still are going to have a very high mortality rate," said Cole.
Cole said that while anthrax poses a great threat to people who come in contact with it, there are other related organisms that can do equally as harmful damage to the body. It is not likely, however, that anyone has enough resources to develop biological warfare that could kill mass populations, Cole said.
"It's going to be very difficult for someone to grow sufficient quantities," said Cole. "At some point we just have to pray that no one will develop the means or intent to do what is potentially possible with the organism. After a certain point there wouldn't be a whole lot we could do about it."
According to government professor Dan Lindley, the worst thing people in the U.S. can do is panic in reaction to the potential biological warfare threat posed by the recent anthrax cases.
"This will have serious implications for how fast and how wide the current war will go," said Lindley who specializes in international relations, foreign policy and security studies. "However, there is a lot that we do not know."
Referring to the threats of biological warfare that abortion clinics, Catholic schools, nightclubs and other institutions have received in the past, Lindley said that the anthrax case is more of a danger because of the real cases in New York, Florida and Washington, D.C. The events related to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have put many Americans on edge.
"There've been recent periods where there have been daily anthrax threats," said Lindley. "The bad news is after years of threats, the anthrax is real."
Like Cole, Lindley stressed that anthrax would not likely kill mass amounts of people because of the lack of sophisticated resources to store large quantities of the bacteria.
"People often think chemical and biological weapons are absolutely deadly. In fact, far more often, they turn out not to kill, but to injure or have no effect," said Lindley.
He proposed that the public becomes more aware at the local level where, according to Lindley, there has been less of a focus on the problem.
"As citizens we have to make sure that money gets thrown at this problem," Lindley said. "The facts warrant concern but not panic by any means."
Incorporating a broader sense of responsibility, government professor Robert Johansen said that security against potential threats to society should be a collaborative duty of all nations.
"The U.S. cannot provide security for the people of the U.S. by itself. It requires a worldwide effort," Johansen said.
A specialist in United Nations peacekeeping, Johansen said the nation has taken for granted its domestic safety, but the recent attacks and anthrax threats show that the U.S. can only protect itself if it works with other nations to ensure international security.
"There have to be some international rules that everybody on earth obeys," said Johansen. "We have not been working multilaterally until Sept. 11. We've assumed that we could solve the problems by ourselves."
Johansen's recommendations involve watching out for domestic problems, but also exercising international inspections.
"In the short run, we need to exert every precaution about receiving mail that might have suspicious [materials], but that will not address the problem in the long run," said Johansen.
"The collaboration is necessary even though its different because there is no way to protect against this war without having intrusive forms of international inspection."
However, even with international involvement, Johansen did say that individuals should be on guard about the serious implications of anthrax.
"I think we should exercise every reasonable precaution because something very unusual is happening because cases of anthrax have not happened like this in recent history," said Johansen.
All News Stories for Wednesday, October 17, 2001
