HEALTH & SCIENCE

Researchers step up battle against ongoing anthrax threat

Early detection, quick treatment and a new-generation vaccine are all part of a multipronged effort to disarm the deadly bacterium.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Jan. 19, 2004.

Washington -- Anthrax is once again in the headlines: new suspicions, new rulings, new research.

Slightly more than two years after some tainted letters caused five deaths and significant nationwide panic, the question remains: Is the United States more ready today than it was in 2001?

Some answers are encouraging.

"We are significantly more prepared than we were two years ago," said Jerome Hauer, MPH, who, until recently, directed the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and is now an assistant professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C.

There are also nagging doubts.

"Given that there has already been an attack and we don't have anyone in jail, I would have to say we have not made as much progress as I think we should have in the last two years," said Lawrence Wein, PhD, professor of management science at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Stanford, Calif. Dr. Wein and colleagues have drafted a plan to thwart an anthrax attack and presented it to federal emergency preparedness officials.

Regardless of the viewpoint, the discussion is timely.

In late December 2003, a federal debate erupted over the effectiveness of the anthrax vaccine against the deadly inhaled form of the disease, and a halt on mandatory military vaccinations was ordered by a U.S. district court judge. Many were surprised by this ruling and questioned the rationale behind it.

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