wfn.org | Churches 'need to know' about biochemical threat: doctor

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 1, 2003  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn. 
10-71B{197}

By Erik Alsgaard*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - When church disaster-response officials gathered recently
to review emergency preparedness plans, they also began a task that was a
grim sign of the times: developing a resource for congregations on
biochemical terrorism.

Representatives from the Baltimore-Washington Conference Disaster Response
Committee met March 28 to review plans already in place for natural disaster
assistance. 

Dr. Chet Clarke, a biochemical expert and member of Bethany United Methodist
Church in Ellicott City, Md., attended the meeting. He brought news that was
at times chilling, at times encouraging. 

"My greatest fear is a lack of education," he said. "Churches need to know
what the six major biochemical agents are. We need to know what are
contagious and which are not. Panic in an uneducated populace can be used as
a weapon; it can kill."

Clarke, an expert in researching the incubation period of pneumonic plague
and smallpox, told the group about substances that could be involved in a
bioterrorist attack.

Smallpox - "Very contagious and very lethal," Clarke said. According to the
Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, "Smallpox is a serious, contagious
and sometimes fatal infectious disease. There is no specific treatment for
smallpox disease, and the only prevention is vaccination." The CDC describes
two clinical forms of smallpox: "Variola major is the severe and most common
form of smallpox, with a more extensive rash and higher fever. Variola minor
is a less common presentation of smallpox, and a much less severe disease,
with death rates historically of 1 percent or less."

Anthrax - According to the CDC, "anthrax is an acute infectious disease
caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax most commonly occurs in
hoofed mammals and can also infect humans. Symptoms of disease vary depending
on how the disease was contracted, but usually occur within seven days after
exposure. The serious forms of human anthrax are inhalation anthrax,
cutaneous anthrax and intestinal anthrax. Inhalation anthrax is often fatal.
Direct person-to-person spread of anthrax is extremely unlikely, if it occurs
at all. Therefore, there is no need to immunize or treat contacts of persons
ill with anthrax, such as household contacts, friends, or coworkers, unless
they also were also exposed to the same source of infection."

Pneumonic plague - "Very contagious," Clarke said. The first signs of illness
are fever, headache, weakness and rapidly developing pneumonia with shortness
of breath, chest pain, cough and a bloody cough, he said. Without early
treatment, patients may die, according to the CDC. "To reduce the chance of
death, antibiotics must be given within 24 hours of first symptoms,"
according to the CDC. A plague vaccine is not currently available for use in
the United States.

Tularemia - "This is a bacteria that is very virulent," Clarke said. "It's
very infectious but not contagious." According to the CDC, a small number of
Francisella tularensis (10-50 organisms) can cause disease. If used as a
bioweapon, "the bacteria would likely be made airborne for exposure by
inhalation," but "manufacturing an effective aerosol weapon would require
considerable sophistication," the CDC says. People have not been known to
transmit the infection to others so infected persons do not need to be
isolated.

Botulinum toxins - These pose a major bioweapons threat, said Clarke, because
of their potency and lethality. According to the Center for Civilian
Biodefense Strategies, part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the
toxin "is the single most poisonous substance known." The toxin "does not
penetrate intact skin," according to the center, and natural cases of
botulism are rare. "A deliberate aerosol or food-borne release of botulinum
toxin could be detected by several features including: a large number of
cases presenting all at once; cases involving an uncommon toxin type;
patients with a common geographic factor but without a common dietary
exposure; and multiple simultaneous outbreaks without a common source."

Hemorhagic fevers - Examples include yellow fever and ebola. "Viral
hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) refer to a group of illnesses that are caused by
several distinct families of viruses," according to the CDC.
"Characteristically, the overall vascular system is damaged, and the body's
ability to regulate itself is impaired. These symptoms are often accompanied
by hemorrhage (bleeding); however, the bleeding is itself rarely
life-threatening. While some types of hemorrhagic fever viruses can cause
relatively mild illnesses, many of these viruses cause severe,
life-threatening disease."

Mustard gas is another possibility for terrorist use, Clarke said. "A
potentially deadly chemical agent that attacks the skin and eyes - and one of
the best known and most potent chemical weapons, mustard gas causes severe
blisters and, if inhaled, can also damage the lungs and other organs,"
according to the Web site, www.terrorismanswers.com, produced by the Council
on Foreign Relations. 

Clarke noted that mustard gas is usually disabling but not fatal. Unlike the
symptoms of exposure to other chemical agents, which usually appear
immediately, he said, the symptoms of exposure to mustard gas appear later.
"This makes mustard gas especially insidious, since victims can suffer damage
before they even realize they need treatment." 

Mustard gas has nothing to do with mustard, according to the Council on
Foreign Relations Web site. "In some forms it is yellowish and reputedly
smells like mustard, but its aroma has also been likened to the smell of
horseradish, garlic and apples. At room temperature, it's actually a liquid
rather than a gas, but the name 'mustard gas' has stuck since it was used in
notorious gas attacks during World War I."

Mustard gas is a blister agent and is less likely to kill large numbers of
people than such nerve agents as sarin and VX, the Web site reports.

Sandy Ferguson, associate council director in the Baltimore-Washington
Conference, said that working on a packet of resources for both natural and
manmade disasters places the conference ahead of the curve. "The
Baltimore-Washington Conference is being proactive in resourcing local
churches," she said. "This resource will be comprehensive but not
exhaustive."

The packet, she said, should be ready by June.

Clarke applauded the committee's work on this issue, and said local churches
play a vital role in responding to disaster.

"Right now, people don't know where to go" in the event of a biochemical
attack, he said. "That's a big problem. Churches could help get the word out
and assist the community in being places people could go to get help."

More information is available from the Centers for Disease Control,
www.bt.cdc.gov, the National Center for Infectious Diseases,
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/, and the Council on Foreign Relations,
www.terrorismanswers.com/home/.   

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*Alsgaard is managing editor of the UMConnection newspaper and co-director of
communications for the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

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United Methodist News Service
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